Hogwarts: A Fairy Tail Adventure
by Winterfang53
Summary: What started as a regular job went wicked fast for Gajeel, Levy, and Lily. Now stuck in the world of Hogwarts, our three heroes have to blend in to survive, but can Team Redfox do it until they can find a way home? Or is Gajeel going to go on a murder spree? Gajevy fanfic with maybe some Harry Potter canon couples. Set during the fifth year. Please enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys! Long-time no see! LOL so I know this crossover is a little out there but for some reason, I got in the mood to read a Fairy Tail x Harry Potter with Gajeel and Levy but I couldn't reason find one, so, I thought I better fix that!_

_This is set after the war but before the babies! 3_

_Remember to Fave, Follow, and Review!_

This wasn't supposed to happen.

That was all Gajeel could think as he, Levy, and Lily hung on for dear life above the sucking portal of potential death. The job was easy: Go to a ruin site and collect an ancient scroll. A walk in the park! How did a 'walk in the park' become a life-or-death situation?

It was surprisingly Lily's fault.

"I'll never look at kiwis again!" wailed Lily as he sank his claws into Gajeel's pants, making the larger male whine in pain.

"I told you not to touch it!" Gajeel barked back, "why on earth would you think something that's been locked up in ruins for the past hundred years would be edible?!"

As the team went looking for the scroll, they came across a room that was empty save for a single pedestal that held what looked like a kiwi. Lily, of course, raced over to the treat.

"Don't touch that Lil'!" Gajeel called after him, but it was too late. The moment Lily plucked the kiwi off its stand, the floor gave way and below it was the said whirling portal of doom.

"It doesn't matter now!" Levy screamed with arms wrapped tightly around Gajeel who was holding on by a single vine, "Gajeel! The vine is breaking!" Gajeel swore and looked up, but by the time he did the vine had already snapped. The trio screamed as the vacuum-like suction pulled them down into the portal, too fast for any of them to do anything about it.

"Damn it, Lily!"

Meanwhile…

Far away in a world unlike the one Gajeel, Levy, and Lily hailed from, there was an older gentleman by the name of Albus Dumbledore who stood by his office window. He was watching the sky when suddenly the clouds began to shift and move violently. His brows furrowed in concern as they darkened as they swirled together. With a flick of his wrist, he blinked out of the room and reappeared in the grounds around the castle, closer to the gathering clouds. To his left, he heard a chorus of pops as Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape appeared beside him.

"Albus, what do you think this is?" McGonagall asked wearily, eyes never leaving the clouds, "is it an attack?"

"I don't feel any magic," Snape grumbled, "but this weather isn't normal for Scotland either.."

"I don't know what it is," Dumbledore said, "but whatever it is, it's about to break!" Just as the Headmaster spoke, the clouds ripped open and bolts of lightning went loose, striking everything in their onslaught. The gusts from the blasts nearly toppled the three treachers, but it wasn't until a massive blot, thick as a house, slammed into the ground; shaking the earth and blinding them with its intensity while knocking them off their feet.

As the world slowly came back to them, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape struggled to their feet only to nearly fall over in shock at the crater that formed from the blast. The crater ate away at the dirt, creating a circle of broken and charred earth a hundred feet wide. Near the center, the land had been blasted away, creating a deep well. As they surveyed the damage, McGonagall gasped.

"Albus! Look at the center!" she choked in horror. By this time the other teachers had appeared but Dumbledore gave no notice to them; his eyes were locked on the 3 unlucky forms within the crater.

"Hagrid!" Dumbledore barked, "we need to save them!" Along with Poppy Pomfrey, Dumbledore and Hagrid climbed their way into the crater. As they neared the center, they could only gasp in horror at the shape of the three laying passed out: there was a man and what appeared to be a young woman. The man was much larger than the girl, her petite form was almost completely encompassed by the man, as his strong, scarred arms held her tightly. The man sported a long, thick black mane with multiple piercings that littered his face and ears. The woman was much softer looking, with gentle featured compared to the harsh ones of the man but her hair drew everyone's eyes, for it was bright blue. Nestled between the man and woman was a black cat who sported brown pants and a sword strangely enough. All three were badly injured.

"Who do you think they are, Professor?" Hagrid asked as he lifted the man into his arms, as Poppy came around to scoop up the girl and cat, "boy! This lad is heavy!"

"I don't know," Dumbledore confessed, "but right now it doesn't matter, they need our help."

McGonagall and Snape stood waiting at the edge of the crater and as Poppy approached, Snape stiffen.

"...is that blue hair?" Snape asked in confusion, "what a tacky color to dye your hair…"

"Not now Snape!" McGonagall growled before turning to Poppy, "here, let me help you" she said before grabbing the cat. "Why does the cat has a sword?"

"He had it with him when we found them," Poppy explained before sidestepping the two, "Hurry! To the clinic!"

…

Back in the castle, Poppy had all three strangers situated on cots, even the little cat. All of their injuries had been magically healed and stitched, save for a few minor ones which only called for a bandage. Dumbledore watched with utmost fascination as Poppy fussed around them, Snape standing by his side.

"What do you think Severus?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling slightly.

"I don't know Professor," Snape droned before glaring at the man and girl, "... But they're hardly Hogwarts appropriate. I've never seen so much metal embedded into one's face before."

"Yes, they are quite strange," Dumbledore chuckled, "but, I can feel power within them. Even in our little furry friend here. Strange power not like our own magic but, at the same time, not completely different. It's strange, I feel like they are not muggles, but not wizards or witches either. We'll have much to ask them, once they awake."

Snape frowned but nodded in agreement nonetheless. "I'm just happy they decided to...visit during the summer. Had this happened a few weeks from now, the whole school would be in an uproar."

Dumbledore laughed again, "yes, indeed. But it looks like Poppy is done here, let's allow them to rest now."

"Why did the cat have to stay in the infirmary?" Snape grumbled, "wouldn't he be better suited with Hagrid?"

"Oh come now Severus," Dumbledore tched, "didn't you see the way the pair had him? He must be very important and I don't think it's right to separate them, even in their sleep."

The pair turned the walked away, allowing sleep to finish the healing process.

…

Sometime later, when Poppy was away from the infirmary to eat dinner, consciousness was beginning to return to one of her patients. With his eyes still closed, Gajeel let his other senses tell him where he was. Touch told him that he was on a bed, wrapped up in what he figured were bandages. Hearing told him that there were 2 others in the room, which his nose confirmed was Levy and Lily. This alone allowed him to relax slightly. His nose also picked up on the smells of alcohol and disinfectants - were they in a hospital? But lingering among those smells was the scent of musk and mold, maybe dampness. There was also the lingering scents of other people, but he knew they weren't in the room and they definitely weren't his guildmates. Breathing deeply, Gajeel started to flex his muscles in order, identifying where he was hurt or restricted. Although a little beat up, Gajeel knew he could still fight if need be.

With that confirmed, he slowly opened his eyes only to stare blankly at the tall stone arches and ceiling. "Where the Hell are we?" Gajeel muttered before turning to the left to see both Levy and Lily still sleep, bandaged, but asleep. Gajeel might not know who was taking care of them, but at least they had been given first aid and beds to sleep in - and that counted for something in his book.

As if she could feel him staring - which, knowing Levy, she probably could - Levy started to flicker her eyes, blinking awake. "Gajeel?" she moaned out, "...where…?"

"On your right," Gajeel whispered, drawing Levy's attention from the ceiling.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice still thick with sleep, "where's Lily?"

"On your left," Gajeel chuckled but the confirmation and his tone relaxed her quite a bit.

"Where are we?" Levy asked again as she glanced around the room in fascination, "are we in a castle or something?"

"No idea Shrimp," Gajeel said gruffly, "but we're patched up so I don't we ended up anywhere too bad - but don't let your guard down."

Before Levy could respond, however, a woman dressed in white with a funny hat walked in through the door. Upon entering, she gasped when she realized that two of her patients were awake.

"Oh my goodness!" the woman squeaked, "how long have you two been awake?" but instead of an answer, she was given puzzled stares.

"Shrimp," Gajeel whispered, "what did she say?"

"I," Levy blinked in confusion, "...I have no idea." this cause Gajeel to whip his head over to her in confusion, Levy knew like every language ever! How did she not know what this lady was saying?

The woman in question also gave the pair a confused look, "I'm sorry dears, I don't believe I understood that. Do either of you know English?" but she only got looks of even more confusion.

"Oh dear," Poppy breathed, "I must fetch the Headmaster!" turning around, Poppy raced out of the room, leaving Gajeel and Levy by themselves.

"Where do you think she's going?" Gajeel asked suspiciously, his eyes never leaving the door.

"I don't know," Levy replied as she propped herself up by her elbows, "but I hope she brings someone who we can understand. It's really bothering me that I have no idea what she's saying!" Levy said louder, just loud enough to rouse Lily from his sleep.

"Hm….whats going on?" Lily said, rubbing his eyes, "where are we?" but before Levy or Gajeel could answer, the woman was back but this time she had two men with her.

The first man was an older man, he looked even older than Master, with long gray hair and bread. His eyes were framed with thin metal glasses which amplified the twinkle in his eyes. Gajeel had to bite his tongue from laughing at the man's outfit: a tall pointy hat with flowing robe.

The other man was younger, though still older then Gajeel and Levy. His hair was shorter but instead of gray is was charcoal black, with equally dark eyes. Even his clothes were dark, which fitted the scowl the was set on his face.

The old man came forward, speaking in the same language as the woman before but still Gajeel, Levy and Lily couldn't understand him.

"What is he saying?" Lily asked which caused the other trio to gasp in shock, now staring at Lily in wonder and confusion. "What?" Lily said defensively, his paw reaching for his sword on his back but stilled when he couldn't find it. "What happened to my sword," he growled, his deep voice shocking the three strangers greatly. The older man said something again but when Lily turned to Levy she just shook her head. The same man paused for a moment, stroking his chin in thought until his eyes lit up with an idea. The man then put his hands in his pocket, only to pull out… a stick?

"What the Hell is a stick gonna do?" Gajeel grumbled but frozen when the man gave a swish of his stick and bubbles came out. This shocked Gajeel, Levy, and Lily stiff as they could only watch as the bubbles came over to them only to pop right on their faces.

"Arg! What the fuck!" Gajeel growled loudly before glaring at the man, "what was that for!?"

The man chuckled, "well, at least we know it worked." This caused the Fairy Tail mages to freeze again. They could understand him!

"What did you just do?" Levy asked in question, her mind already turning to see if she could remember any magic spell that could do had just happened.

"I cast a translation spell on you three," the older man replied, though his brows were furrowed slightly, "was that the first time you've ever seen magic?"

"You call that magic?" Gajeel scoffed, "looked like sissy shit to me, and what was with the stick?"

"Gajeel!" Levy growled, her cheeks flaring in embarrassment, before turning to the other three, "you'll have to forgive him, he's a little… crass. But to answer your question, no this isn't the first time seeing magic - we're actually wizards ourselves - but it's the first time seeing anyone do magic with….a...stick?"

"Really?" the older man asked in question, "I don't believe I've ever met a real magic user who never used a wand before. And it's not a stick my dear, its a wand."

"You actually use magic?" the darker man asked with a scoff of his own, "but you've never seen it with a wand? That's believable."

Gajeel growled deeply at the man, startling the woman with his inhuman sound, but Levy waved him off gently. "Gajeel quiet, it would be better to just show them" Levy explained before, turning back to the older man, "where we're from, we don't use, uh, 'wands' to do our magic, we can simply use our bodies instead. For example, I'm a Solid Script wizard, my magic allows me to bring words to life." With that introduction, Levy wrote out the word light "Solid Script: Light!" before the three teachers' eyes a solid, floating word of light appeared, brightening up the room great.

"Amazing!" the man said, his eyes twinkling brightly, before turning towards Gajeel, "are you a 'solid script' wizard also?"

"Nah, that's the Shrimp's thing," Gajeel huffed before sitting up straight, "I'm an Iron Dragon Slayer!" he said proudly.

This caused the two men and woman to furrow their brows in confusion. "You...slayer dragons? That's your magic?" the woman asked horrified, her face paling in thought.

"Well, no not really," Levy explained quickly, "what he means is that his magic is the same as dragons, more specifically iron dragons." But this didn't seem to clear up anything.

"I'm afraid we still don't understand my dear," the older man said, "dragons don't have any magical power per se, besides breathing fire that it." This caused Levy, Gajeel, and Lily to glance at the man in their own confusion.

"What type of lame dragons have you seen?" Gajeel asked in bewilderment, "my old man could crumble mountains in seconds! And he wasn't no Fire Dragon! He was Metallicana! The Iron Dragon!"

"Your father was… a dragon?" the dark-haired man asked in disbelief but before Gajeel could bark out a reply Levy threw her hand up to stop him.

"Ok, something is seriously wrong here," she concluded, "I'm sorry about how is it possible that you don't know what a Dragon Slayer is? Are we not in Fiore anymore?"

This caused the older man to furrow his brow deeply, "...My dear, I've been alive a very long time and seen pretty much all of this world and I ensure you that I have never heard of a place called Fiore."

Silence enveloped the room, laying thickly on the occupants as everyone tried to comprehend what was happening.

Well, almost everyone.

"Damn it!" Gajeel groaned, "Not again! First, it was the Exceed world, then I almost got sucked into Hell, there whatever place Acnologia sent us too, and now this?! Can't a man just enjoy his homeworld without being sucked into another dimension for the uptenth time!?"

"This has happened to you before?" the older man asked in amazement.

"Well, it happened to Gajeel," Levy said as she gnawed on her lip. Her heart had shattered when Gajeel got sucked into Hell, and then again with Acnologia. Whenever she thought about it, she could still feel the pain tear at her soul. If she had lost Gajeel another time….she didn't think she could make it.

"And me, but only once," Lily chimed in, "I actually hail from the world Gajeel called 'Exceed world' but I now live on EarthLand with the rest of my kind, the Exceeds."

"And I must say, what a fine kind you have my furry friend!" the older man praised, "I've never seen a talking cat-like creature before!"

"So you're from another world that has different magic than our own?" The other man summarized, "and dragons are what, extremely powerful in your world?"

"Damn straight!" Gajeel roared, "nothing can kill a dragon besides dragon magic! People who wield Dragon Slayer Magic are the only humans that could do battle against them!"

"Metallicana, Gajeel's father, was the Iron Dragon in our world. He adopted Gajeel and taught him his magic," Levy explained, "Dragon Slayer magic is very rare."

"And what do you do?" the woman asked Lily, "are you a wizard too?"

Lily nodded, "yes, I'm a wizard myself although my only magic is my ability to fly, but I happen to be a fierce swordsman if I do say so myself."

Gajeel laughed, "gihi! My cat's the best damn cat ever! He's a freaking monster on the battlefield!"

"Fascinating, simply fascinating!" The older man cried, "Oh! But I do believe we haven't been properly introduced! My name is Albus Dumbledore and I'm the current headmaster at the school we are now standing in, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this man here is Severus Snape and he is our potions teacher here while this woman here is Poppy Pomfrey, our head nurse. I don't believe I caught your full names."

"This is a school?" Levy asked in wonder, "Oh, right. My name is Levy Mc- er excuse me, Redfox," she said blushing (A/N: That's right! I don't believe for a second that after the war and with Gajeel almost dying that those two didn't get hitched the first chance they had! XD).

"I'm Gajeel Redfox," Gajeel said gruffly, though he did send Levy a smirk that made her blush even more.

"And I'm Patherlily, though most people just call me Lily for short," Lily said as he hopped off his bed onto Levy's and sat down in her arms.

"Oh, my! You're married?" Poppy gasped, "but you're so young!"

"Yes, unless you're older then you look," Dumbledore chimed in, "most young folk here don't marry until later in life. How old are you? You barely look over twenty!"

Levy and Gajeel shared a look before staring back at Dumbledore. "Do you want our chronical age or biological age?" Levy asked, though there was a slight tint of mirth in her eyes which was definitely not reflected in Gajeel's. No, Gajeel's only held slight dread.

Dumbledore blinked, "there's a difference?"

Levy nodded, "chronologically, I'm twenty-six and Gajeel here is… what was it again hunny?" Levy asked as she giggled.

Gajeel mumbled under his breath, but no one heard him so Poppy asked him to repeat it. "I'm four hundred and twenty-nine...ish!" (A/N: That's right! Got to love that 400-year time skip!)

Dumbledore blinked, opened his mouth then blinked again, "you're… over four hundred years old?" he choked.

"Bullshit," Snape said bluntly, "and what's with the 'ish'?"

"I was found by my dragon when I was super young and he didn't know how old I was," Gajeel shrugged, "stayed with him until I was like twelveish, got sent four hundred years into the future, lived in the future for seven years, was sealed for another seven years, woke up, and it's been two years since then so yeah, like four hundred and twenty- nineish."

"Then what are you biologically?" Poppy cried out.

"Gajeel's about twenty- two and I'll be turning twenty in a few months," Levy said laughing.

"So you are too young to be married!" Poppy exclaimed, "my goodness, most of our young people don't marry until their late twenties!"

"When you almost die a couple of times, it really puts how precious you're time is into perspective," Lily said sagely, "in our line of work, you never know when it will be the last time you see your loved ones. You can't waste a second."

This caused Dumbledore, Poppy, and Snape to frown sadly at that. "Is your world at war?" Dumbledore asked softly.

Levy shook her head, "not normally. We were at war a few months ago but that was the first in decades. What Lily means is that in our world, wizards work in places called guilds where people can hire wizards to do all sorts of jobs. Some of them can be dangerous and it's a known fact that you can die on those types of jobs. When we were at war I….I almost lost Gajeel a few times and…" Levy trailed off. Gajeel leaned over and covered her hand with his, giving it a squeeze in comfort.

"But even though you know it's that dangerous you still do it?" Poppy asked in amazement.

Gajeel nodded, "somebodies got too. We're Fairy Tail Wizards and we're the ones that are known for saving the day. After saving the world a few times over, you get to brag about that stuff."

"Even when it gets really bad, we're known for being able to accomplish the impossible," Lily said in agreement.

"Yup!" Levy chimed in brightly.

"Amazing," Dumbledore said in awe, "and there are other young wizards such as your selves?"

"Yup, our guild is full of them," Levy said nodding, "our youngest members are currently fourteen - well, if you don't count some of the wizards' children that is."

"Fourteen!?" Poppy squealed, "I might faint the thought!"

"A lot of us were orphans though," Levy said gently, "most of us needed to work to get by, myself included."

"I see that our worlds are vastly different," Dumbledore said emotionally, "our children here don't even leave school until they are about eighteen years of age and many go off to continue schooling for countless years afterward."

"Man, that would suck," Gajeel gripped, "I go stir crazy if I'm sitting too long, I couldn't imagine having to stay in school for that long!" He would have continued, if not for his stomach growling deeply. "Man I'm starving…"

"Oh! I can go get you something to eat!" Poppy said kindly, "is there anything that you'd fancy?"

"Got any metal?" Gajeel asked.

Poppy blinked, "metal….?"

Levy smiled sheepishly, "yes, sorry, due to Gajeel's magic he can eat metal but don't worry! I can make him some! We'll all take whatever is easy and on hand for a meal, thank you!" With that, Levy weaved the word 'Iron' and with a shout "Solid Script: Iron!" the dark silver metal appeared, landing safely on Gajeel's lap.

"Gihi! Thanks, Shrimp!" Gajeel said before bending over to take a large chuck out of the solid word.

Dumbledore blinked again, "absolutely amazing...:"

_I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please let me know if you want to see more! _


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys! Wanted to make a big disclaimer before starting chapter 2: I'll be honest, I'm not nearly as big as a Harry Potter fan as I am Fairy tail. That being said, I'm going to try to stick to the Harry Potter rules and story line as best as I can but please feel free to correct me if needed!_

After eating dinner, the Fairy Tail Wizards fell quickly back to sleep; the combination of the stress of being in a new world and being injured drove the wizards to an early bedtime. Poppy had initially protested, but she really couldn't keep Levy and Gajeel out of the same bed. She grumbled about proper patient care as she glanced over at a sleeping Gajeel, Levy AND Lily, all in the same bed but didn't have the heart to wake them. Later that night, Dumbledore sat down with Snape and McGonagall to go over what to do with their new guests.

"Are they really from another world?" McGonagall asked in wonder, "how did they get here?"

"Levy told me that they had been sucked in by a portal," Dumbledore replied, "I had heard of portals to other worlds in some older books but I had always thought it was a fairy tale. In any case, they don't know how to get home, so I offered to let them stay here until we can find a way for them to return."

"You want them around the children?!" McGonagall cried, "didn't you say the man took a chuck out of a thing of metal, _with his teeth_?!"

"It gets worse," Snape muttered bitterly.

"It payment for housing and helping them get home, Miss Levy has offered their services in exchange. I was thinking of having them work as guards or maybe teachers," Dumbledore continued, smiling brightly as if he never heard Snape's remark.

"What?!" McGonagall gasped.

"I understand, Minerva" Dumbledore said, "but with Voldemort on the loose and the Ministry not believing it, we really don't have many options. Even with the Order, we are stretched too thin."

"But with the Ministry of Magic sending their puppet?!" McGonagall screeched, "they would be knocking down our doors as soon as word got out of 'wandless magic'!"

"I've thought of that also," Dumbledore explained, "while I still don't have a full grasp on their abilities, Mr. Gajeel stressed to me while they ate that Miss Levy was, and I quote, 'The smartest damn Shrimp alive!' which then Mr. Lily explained meant that Levy has been recognized as one of the most intelligent people in their world. He claimed that Levy, and even them to some extent, would probably be able to learn our 'style' of magic. Of course, he claimed she could do it in a week, but I digress; If by some chance that this is true then I couldn't see why Levy couldn't pose as a teacher. We could even make a new class!"

McGonagall sighed deeply, "magic isn't something you learn overnight! We only have four weeks left in the summer, there is no possible way she could learn enough to pose as a teacher!"

"I believe we can't make assumptions," Dumbledore explained, "we can only wait and see."

…

The next day Poppy woke to find the Fairy Tail Wizards missing, gone from their beds with only a note that said they had gone exploring. In her frantic panic, Poppy proceeded to wake most of the other staff, including Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Calm yourself, Poppy," he said soothingly, "I'm sure they're still in the castle. We just need to find them."

It took some time and effort on the teacher's side, for the wizards had left their beds before many of the paints and ghosts had even been awake, but after finding a trail of bitten swords, Dumbledore found the little family in the library.

"What...is Miss Levy doing?" Dumbledore asked in surprise, his eyes blinking very fast as he tried to comprehend the sheer _size_ of the two piles of books laid at Levy's feet.

Gajeel, who had been doing push-up - something the Poppy would have _not_ approved of - grunted, "reading. The Shrimp's a bookworm."

Dumbledore could understand that, given he was one himself, but never had he ever seen someone read so many books so fast. Levy sat on the ground with a six-foot hile pile of books on her right which kept growing and a diminishing 3-foot pile of books on her left. She sat in the middle with her Gale Force glasses reading about a book every few minutes.

"How is she doing that?" Dumbledore asked in confusion.

"She's using Gale Force Glasses," Lily explained while he sat on a table eating away at a Kiwi, "they allow her to read at a rate that's about ten times faster than her normal reading rate. Levy has the nickname 'Devourer of Knowledge' for a reason, she can crank through books and scrolls like you wouldn't believe, all why comprehending everything."

"Gihi! The Shrimp does the learning for us then she just teaches us what we need to know! Pretty sweet deal, am I right?" Gajeel gloated, "oh, we raided your kitchen, by the way, we didn't leave a mess though, we promise!"

Dumbledore didn't rightly hear the boy though, he was too enraptured by the sight of Miss Levy reading to truly comprehend what the young man had said. Dumbledore was starting to think the young man hadn't been boasting last night.

"Oi! Lev'! Dumbledore is here!" Gajeel barked over his shoulder, causing Levy to pause in her frantic reading for a moment.

Taking off her glasses, Levy glanced up at the older man, "oh, good morning Professor! I hope you don't mind us being here. I saw the section labeled off-limits so we haven't gone there, I promise!"

Dumbledore chuckled, shaking his head in bemusement, "of course not my dear, for as long as you stay here in our humble school you are more than welcome to the library! Tell me, have you learned anything interesting?"

Levy nodded, smiling brightly, "Oh definitely! I think I have a fairly good grasp on your structure of magic, it's not completely different than our own which helps but there are some major differences. I'm also caught up on your history as well, the one book, Hogwarts: A History, was very helpful! Though I do have some questions about some of the more reason events that have happened, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask those once I finish."

"Of course my dear, whenever you're ready. I was wondering if by chance, once Poppy clears you of course if we could have a demonstration of some of your skills." Dumbledore asked, "I think I have a fair idea of your but not so much of Mr. Gajeel's or Mr. Lily's here."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Lily mused, "we're pretty much back to fighting shape anyway so I don't see why we couldn't do it today."

"I wouldn't want to stress you," Dumbledore exclaimed, "rest is important for the body to heal."

"Eh, Dragon Slayers and their mates have accelerated healing," Gajeel said with a gruff, "my cat does too since he's awesome like that. Gihi!"

Dumbledore cocked his head to the side, "mate?"

"Even though Gajeel was born human, he's not completely human," Levy explained, "many of his instincts and biological traits actually come from dragons - it's due to his magic you see - and in our world dragons undergo a mating ritual with binds two souls together for life - their version of marriage. This alters the mates involved, while I'm still human I do get to share in Gajeel's hyper healing and even when in danger I can form scales."

"Scales?" Dumbledore choked.

"Yeah, scales. See?" Gajeel said before covering his body in his dark steel scales; though only in his iron steel dragon form, Gajeel's eyes looked more reptilian, his fangs were longer and he even grew claws. Had he been in his iron-steel/shadow form, even more changes would have occurred. And in Dragon Force even more so.

Dumbledore could barely believe his eyes as he took in Gajeel's form: It was so shockingly different that he could barely comprehend it. After composing himself, Dumbledore turned to Levy, "Miss Levy, one day we must sit down and talk about the magic in your world. I am utterly fascinated and now have a plethora of questions!"

Levy simply smiled, "Of course!"

...

It was before lunchtime when Levy finished her books, which unfortunately was also when Poppy found them. She had been furious when she found Gajeel doing handstand pushup and also befuddled by the state of the library but that didn't stop her from carting Team Redfox back to the hospital wing to give them a check-up.

"I can't believe how fast you've healed!" Poppy proclaimed, "all three of you! It's downright magical!"

"So does this mean we don't need to be bed ridden?" Lily asked hopefully.

"No, not bed ridden, but I would still like you to be careful," Poppy stressed, "though I have a feeling that Mr. Redfox here might not like that."

"I'll make sure he doesn't do anything crazy," Levy promised with a smile, "but would we still be staying in the hospital?"

Poppy shook her head, "no, the Headmaster has already arranged a room here in the castle for you. It's in the teachers wing so it's more like an apartment then a dorm room, if thats already."

The Redfox family was very pleased with this, and wasted no time in searching for it. Poppy led them down the hall in the teachers wing, passing moving pictures who all stared at the new additions to the castle. Gajeel had been creeped out by the strange paintings at first, but found a low growl could send most of the paintings running - which tickled him pink with mirth. Levy and Lily had not been so keen on Gajeel's new pastime, but neither of them could deny that the paintings were creepy.

"Here is the room the Headmaster set up," Poppy said as she opened the door, "it has two bedrooms, a bathroom, livingroom and kitchen. If you needed anything else, such as an extra room, please talk to the Headmaster and he can extend it."

The small apartment was quite similar to Lucy's back home: warm wooden floors and light beige walls. All the basic furniture had already been provided and the walls were bare but Levy and Gajeel knew they didn't need much.

"Is there any place where we can train?" Lily asked as he sat down on the couch.

"Oh, that's right. The Headmaster mentioned something about that," Poppy mused, "I honestly don't know yet, however, I could imagine that you could ask him at lunch. The Headmaster had arranged for you three to meet the other teachers in the Grand Hall for a luncheon. Speaking of which, let's hop along! We mustn't keep everyone waiting!

Team Redfox trailed after Poppy as she led them to the Grand Hall, taking in the whole castle as they walked, until they came to a pair of very large doors.

"This is the Grand Hall," Poppy explained, "during the school year, here is where students have their meals and where we host celebrations." Poppy then pushed open the doors to reveal the enchantment: The light from the sun bathed the mighty hall in it's soft light, catching on the many banners and hanging chandeliers that seemed to float below what looked like a bright blue sky - with moving clouds and passing birds to boot! Levy gasped in wonder as Gajeel and Lily stared with their mouths wide in shock. Near the end of the room was a long table where a group of people stood waiting, some were people they had already met such as Snape, but most were complete strangers.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore said, his voice booming around the room, "Thank you Poppy for showing our guest to the Hall, now please, I would like to introduce you to everyone."

Dumbledore then introduced Gajeel, Levy, and Lily to a multitude of characters; From a giant of a man to a fellow who was particularly short - "Gihi! Shrimp look! Someone who's actually shorter than you!" - and everyone in between. The giant man took much interest in Lily, asking him this question and that.

"So how did you learn to talk?" the large man asked, who had introduced himself as Hagrid, "did it take long to learn?"

"Sir, I learned to talk the same why I'm sure your young children do," Lily answered awkwardly, "from my parents as a baby. And I think I could talk by two?"

"So the hair is natural?" Snape questioned, though you could hear the slight annoyance in his voice, "and it's common in your world?"

"Yes, actually," Levy laughed nervously, "I have a number of guidmates who also have blue hair, and pink, and green, and-"

"Why on Earth do you have so many piercings?" A stiff woman asked Gajeel, McGonagall was her name if Gajeel remembered, "and how did you get them on your arms?"

"Uh, there not really piercings," Gajeel explained, "there just metal the I grow out of my skin for protection. Having them there helps me form my scales faster." (A/N: I figured those piercing had to have some alternative use)

The Redfoxs had been battered with questions left and right; everything from how Lily could talk, all the way to questions on their marriage and everything else in between. Levy had been able to ask many questions of her own, however, and was able to learn much able to new world they had found themselves in. Potions, spells, incantations, and even a secret society of witches and wizards! This world was so vastly different than their own, Levy could barely contain her excitement to learn everything! After the initial excitement had worn off, however, most of the staff began to mingle with each other, allowing Levy to spend some time asking Dumbledore some questions.

"So this Voldamort fellow," Levy began, though she spoke softly as not to startle the teachers, "he's the biggest threat to your world at the moment? Is that why people are too afraid to say his name?"

Dumbledore nodded grimly, "the tragedy of the past was so great that people can't even bare to say his name."

"But everything I've read says he's gone now," Levy asked in question.

To this, Dumbledore shook his head, "last year, he was unfortunately brought back, at the devastating loss of one of our own students. The Government doesn't want to believe it, they want to continue living in the 'dream' that they've created for themselves. Any opposite option, as you might have read, is very… disliked at the moment."

"Sounds like you have a bunch of idiots in charge," Gajeel ask with a snort, starling Dumbledore who had not heard him approach.

"My goodness," Dumbledore breathed, "how did you do that?"

"Gihi!" Gajeel chuckled, "I'm pretty sneaky like that."

"I'd have to agree with Gajeel," Levy said "a government who's not even willing to look into a threat doesn't deserve to be in charge."

"Sounds like to me, that we need to put them in their place!" Gajeel said grinning evilly, "we can always pull what Master does back home!"

"Master threatens to let Natsu on the loose," Levy deadpanned, "we don't have Natsu here to start blowing everything up."

Dumbledore blinked in disbelief, "I can't tell if you two are being serious or not."

"Oh, we're being completely serious," Gajeel added, "but even without Natsu, we're more than qualified for a little hostile takeover."

"Gajeel," Levy warned as Dumbledore's eyes widened nervously.

"Just say the word Gramps and we'll take out all of your problems!" Gajeel proclaimed boldly, completely ignoring Levy's warning.

"I'll...I'll keep that in mind," Dumbledore said nervously, "as for now, I was hoping to utilize your strengths to guard the caste and our students from the dark forces during your stay. But first, I feel like a demonstration of your powers is in order to see what course of action would be the best."

"Gihi! 'Bout time we got let loose!" Gajeel cheered.

"Is there anything you might need to property show off your powers?" Dumbledore asked.

"An open space would be preferable," Levy explained, "some of our magic can be...fairly destructible. Oh, and some targets would be nice. They can be anything, like logs or rocks, if you have some on hand."

Dumbledore nodded, "we have a large arena which might be suitable, either that or the fields. Has Poppy cleared you three yet? We wouldn't want to stress your bodies more than necessary."

Levy nodded, "yes, she cleared us just before lunch. Speaking of which, would there be a place where we could train? Gajeel and Lily get very antsy if they don't train once a day."

"If it would work," Dumbledore hummed in thought, "we have a forest near the back of the school where students are forbidden from entering. It would be the best place to train in secret, but it's filled with magical creatures of all shapes and powers."

"Oh, things to hit!" Gajeel cheered, "been itching for a good beat down. Got any beasties you need getting rid of?"

Dumbledore looked at Levy in slight horror, "is he serious?"

"Don't worry Professor," Levy said softly, "nothing will go extinct on my watch."

"Please, no ... 'exterminating' of any kind! There are many beasts who call that forest home who are the last of their kind! Many who are intelligent too!" Dumbledore stressed.

"Aw, ok," Gajeel grumbled.

"When would you like us to do our demonstration, Professor?" Levy asked, knowing it would cheer Gajeel up to show off a bit.

"The sooner, the better," Dumbledore replied, "considering that lunch is almost over, how about we start in one hour? I'll have Minerva escort you to the fields, there should be plenty of targets there."

After lunch, the Redfox's went back to their room, where Levy sat reading on their new couch as Gajeel and Lily stretched.

"Now Gajeel," Levy started, her eyes still focused on the book, "we need to be careful during the demonstration."

"Yea, yea, I know. No accidentally hitting someone," Gajeel nodded.

"That isn't what I meant," Levy said, only this time putting down the book, "while I wasn't lying when I told Dumbledore that the structure of our magic is slightly similar, our application of magic is completely different. From what I've read, they don't have anything nearly as 'destructive' as ours. They has a set of torture spells and even one instant kill spell, thats it. I'm actually a little afraid of scaring them off after one little 'Iron Dragon's Roar'!"

"Doesn't that make us the perfect guards though?" Lily asked as he sat down next to Levy, "if our magic is so vastly different, then the enemy wouldn't know what to expect. We would be Dumbledore's ultimate trump card."

"Don't worry Lev," Gajeel said as he too sat down, "if the old man's smart — which he seems to be — then he would be a fool to let powerhouses like us walk away. Everything will be alright, I promise."

Levy nodded, now contempt, and allowed herself to snuggle into Gajeel's side. Soon, the Redfox family would go out there and show this new world would they could do, but right now, All Levy wanted was to spend some time with the two most important people in her life.

_Remember to fave, follow and review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys! Thank you so much for the support so far! I've had a few questions on the story and my update plan so I thought I'd answer them here. First off, as you might have noticed already, I plan on uploading larger chapters. This means that I won't be updating as frequently, so you might have to wait a month or so for an update. That being said, I do plan on finishing this story, so please be patient with me. Another question was whether or not I plan on having other Fairy Tail characters appear. To be completely honest, I wasn't planning on it; however, depending on how the story goes I might add someone later on. The last question was if I plan on having Gajeel and Levy be students. The short answer is no, they won't be students, however, they will still be directly interacting with the student body at Hogwarts. _

_If you guys have any other questions just PM me and I'll try to answer as best as I can!_

A knock on the door interrupted the small family on the couch. Hopping up from her seat, Levy opened the door to reveal Professor McGonagall.

"I hope you three are prepared," she said as she eyed each one individually, "I'm still not entirely convinced that you should have been cleared but I digress, it's not my decision. Come along, I'll lead you to the fields."

A ten-minute walk through the castle to a back exit led to a large open plain. The castle sat at the top of a hill that streamed off to a grassy valley. In the depth of the valley stood Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore called, his voice booming out even outdoors, "I had Hagrid litter the field with a number of logs and large stones if that is sufficient. Is there anything else you might need?"

Levy glanced around, taking into account how close the teachers were standing in respect to the demonstration field.

"Professor, do you have any protection spells up?" Levy asked as they neared.

"Why no we don't," Dumbeldore said in surprise, before furrowing his brow, "do you think we'll need it?"

Levy nodded, "either that or stand back farther, preferably at the top of the hill."

Mummers of protest filled the space after Levy's comment, along with looks of disbelief.

"I would believe that we're perfectly capable of defending ourselves," Snape droned stiffly, "if we so needed to. You all can't be that destructive."

Levy stared at Snape in thought, "Professor, you must excuse me, but 'destructive' is Fairy Tail's middle name. We have a horrible reputation for leveling everything in our path. While Gajeel, Lily, and myself are by no means the more destructive members of our guild, we've all wrecked a building or two by accident."

Snape scoffed, clearly not believing the girl. Levy narrowed her eyes at the man before turning her head over to Gajeel.

"Alright boys," she said, "let's give them the Fairy Tail Special!"

"Sweet!" Gajeel cheered before sucking in a large breath.

Bracing himself, Gajeel took aim at the training field, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" As soon as Gajeel opened his mouth, a tornado of shredded metal blasted out, growing in size as it raced out from him, ripping apart everything in its path. Cries of shock and fear came from the crowd but that didn't stop him. As the roar gave way, a black blur shot out, flying faster than a jet at the falling debris. With a flash of a sword, both rock and wood were cut neatly in parts. The figure stopped, hovering in the air. A large ripped panther with great wings carrying a heavy battle sword stood there in the sky.

"W-who?" McGonagall cried in confusion.

"Oh that's Lily," Levy explained, "that's his real form. He can switch between his small form and large form at will." Levy, unlike her companions, stayed near the teachers, acting as a buffer between them and Gajeel's blast.

"Oi Shrimp! We need more targets!"

"On it!" Levy cried and with a quick swipe of her hand, generated a pair of floating words, "Solid Script: Training Target!" (A/N: totally made it up but I figured that Levy probably could make anything.)

The word duplicated itself ten times before forming into moving metal targets. Gajeel and Lily both charged, Lilly with his sword and Gajeel with his Iron Demon Sword, and began attacking the targets the started to attack back.

"Hey, that's new!" Lily called out, "Levy, did you upgrade the spell?"

"Yup!" she chimed happily, "figured you and Gajeel needed a better workout!"

"Gihi! Thanks, Shrimp!" Gajeel cheered before successfully slicing a side off the target, sending it flying towards the crowd. "Oops!"

Before the part could hit the crowd, however, Levy stepped forward, "Solid Script: Shield!" With a wave of her hand, a translucent shield appeared in front of the teachers, deflecting the part into Gajeel's waiting jaws.

"Gajeel! What did I say about eating every piece of metal you come across!?"

"Aw, c'mon Lev! It practically flew into my mouth!"

"If your mouths wide open, get a taste of this! Solid Script: Hail Storm!"

Gajeel laughed as the sky darkened as hail rained down on the combatants. Dumbledore was about to create a barrier around the teachers, but Levy beat him to it. With a wave of her hand, the shield from before moved to cover the crowd, successfully batting away the chunks of ice.

"Dumbledore, how are they doing this?!" McGonagall whispered into his ear, "Gajeel can breath metal, Lily can transform, and Levy can even control the weather! Their magic is nothing like our own!"

Dumbledore didn't answer right away, for he was too distracted by the display of power. He watched as Gajeel and Lily dodged the hail, all while continuing to fight the targets, destroying everything in their path. He gasped in shock as Gajeel transformed into a darker version of the scaled form he had seen before, but he felt his jaw drop as Gajeel vanished into shadows, appearing and disappearing all over. He watched as Levy acted as both guard for the teachers and combatant, creating obstacles and challenges for the boys while keeping the shield active. Dumbledore noticed how seamlessly Levy cast her spells, weaving magic in a way that he had never seen in someone so young.

"They're perfect," he mumbled softly. With the Redfoxs watching over Hogwarts, Dumbledore had nothing to fear.

…

Some time later, Dumbledore had invited Gajeel, Levy, and Lily to his office to discuss plans for the school year. It was well after dinner, where Dumbledore and Levy had engaged in a very in depth discussion in magic theory, which gave Dumbledore the most brilliant idea.

"As you might know, Hogwarts is a school and the school year will be starting in less than four weeks," Dumbledore explained, "Until we can return you to your home world, I was hoping you could protect the students and staff. Gajeel and Levy are slightly old looking to pose as students but I was hoping you utilize your abilities in other areas."

"What did you have in mind?" Levy asked curiously.

"I was hoping that you could act as a teacher Levy," Dumbledore replied, "for Magical Theory. Our normal professor retired last school year and we are in need of a replacement. I had someone in mind, but there's no harm in waiting another year. Gajeel, I would like you and Lily to patrol the school, hopefully unnoticed. I was hoping to bank on your shadow form while Lily could travel around by pretending to be a normal cat."

"Levy can be the outer face while Lily and I hide in the shadows," Gajeel nodded as he summarized, "I like it. Levy can get close with the kids while I cover the grounds. It's a good plan."

"Wouldn't it be noticed that Hogwarts had a new teacher?" Levy asked, "wouldn't your government be suspicious? You did mention earlier that they were sending someone here for the year correct?"

"The teacher that we had in mind is a woman, so with a little ...forgery, we can get you all the necessary paperwork to appear to be the new teacher. I had yet to file the paperwork with the Ministry anyways so there's no need to go by a different name either." Dumbledore clarified.

"You want us to keep an eye on the government spy?" Gajeel asked.

Dumbledore nodded, "it would be for the best, I don't know what our Minister of Magic is up to but it certainly can't be good."

"There's one more thing, however," Dumbledore said as he placed a picture on the table. The picture contained three students: two boys and a girl. The first boy had bright red red, lots of freckles and cheerful green eyes. The girl had bushy brown hair and eyes with a pleasant, but reserved face. The last boy had dark black hair, his eyes were framed with a pair of simple glasses but tucked behind his bangs was a scar. "This is Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter. They are trio who are notorious for finding trouble, essentially Harry."

"Is he the Boy Who Lived?" Levy asked as she gazed at the photo, "he was the one who survived the killing curse from Voldemort."

Dumbledore nodded, "yes, he is that boy. These three have had run ins with the dark side since their first year, Voldemort has been after Harry all this time. Along with the school, I would like for you to pay extra attention to these three."

"Will they be in my class?" Levy asked.

"They are now," Dumbledore replied, "Harry is also a troubled boy, the stress of the Dark Lord along with what happened last year has done tremendous damage to him. I ask that, along with watching out for his physical health, could you also keep an eye on his mental health?"

Levy glanced at the photo again, noticing the hidden pain before Harry's eyes. "We promise."

"Wonderful!" Dumbledore cried, his body filling with relief, "now, off to bed! We have much to do to prepare you for the school year!"

…

The next day, Dumbledore took Gajeel, Levy, and Lily to a small town called Hogsmeade, where Levy could get herself a wand.

"Do you really need a piece of wood to blend in?" Gajeel grumbled, glaring at all the people who were gawking at him.

"In order to appear normal, I need to have a wand Gajeel, Professor Dumbledore already explained that," Levy replied, as she followed after the surprisingly fast older man.

"Thankfully the main wand vendor has a branch here," Dumbledore explained, "when you need a wand, there's really no where else then Ollivander's."

The group approached a small shop, the windows dark and only a candle light was seen within. Dumbledore opened the door for the Redfoxs, leading into a small space with a desk. There was a man behind the counter who glanced up as the party came in.

"Professor! What brings you here?" the man asked.

"I should be asking you that Ollivander," Dumbledore said pleasantly, walking up to the man to shake his hand, "What brings you to your branch?"

"I was bringing new stock," the man - Ollivander - explained before turning towards the Redfoxes, "who did you bring with you?"

"A small family under my care," Dumbledore explained discreetly, "Mrs. Levy Redfox here is a new teacher at Hogwarts but during her travels her wand was broken. We were hoping to replace it."

Ollivander nodded, "well you came to the right spot." He then turned to Levy and motioned her towards him.

Levy hesitated, but still came over to the man - all while Gajeel rested against the front wall with Lily.

"Which hand dear?" Ollivander asked, Levy showed her right hand which Ollivander quickly measure out all the necessary increments. He then hummed before turning and headed further into the store. It took a few minutes, noises of boxes moving filled the small shop, until Ollivander finally came back.

"You have a very interesting magic my dear," Ollivander said, causing Levy to tense, "oh, don't worry dear. I know better than to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, but since I've never met someone with your type of magic, it might take more time than normal to find your wand?"

"Don't you just pick one?" Gajeel mumbled.

"The wand picks the wielder," Ollivander replied, startling Gajeel that he could hear him, "at least, that's how it works here. You're magic is very unique as well young man, I would like to see if there's a wand that takes to you too."

"Ollivander can see people's magic," Dumbledore explained, "this allows him to find the right wands for people."

Ollivander then set the boxes on the desk, pulling out one to put in Levy's hand before quickly grabbing the wand back to be replaced with another. The set of boxes were put back and replaced two times over until Ollivander finally had Levy come back to walk around the shop. As Levy walked about, suddenly a box fell from the very top shelf, landing prompting in her arms.

Ollivander frowned, "that can't be right," he mumbled but nevertheless took the box from her arms to bring to the front. Once at the front, he opened the box to reveal a silver wand - not wooden like Dumbledore's.

Levy gasped, the wand was beautiful. The wand was made of silver metal, the handle twisted as it curved with a sharp, ink pen like point at the bottom. The upper length was a thine slight curve like a saber but ruffled like a feather. Unlike a feather though, it was etched with scales.

"Ollivander I've never seen a wand like this," Dumbledore remarked as he took in the piece of art.

"That's because there aren't many like it," Ollivander explained, "this wand is one of a pair, the last wands my master ever made, he even named them. This one's name is Dracodre. The material for the wand actually came from the breast scales of an Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragon, where the core is a gem from the head of a sphinx."

"That's amazing!" Dumbledore cried, "a breast scale from an Ukrainian Ironbelly are suppose to be impossible to obtain, let alone a gem from a sphinx!"

"This wand is very special," Ollivander continued, "the gem from the head of the sphinx indicates profound knowledge where the breast scale is the most treasured of the Ukrainian Ironbelly scales due to how protected it is. My master always said that is wand was made of one who was as wise as a sphinx but was the most valuable treasure of a dragon."

Levy blushed bright red before smiling softly to herself. She turned and met Gajeel's gaze, which reflected the love he handle for her, causing her to smile wider.

"Well, go on dear, pick it up!" Ollivander pushed, practically forcing the wand into her hand.

As Levy grabbed hold of the wand, she felt the connection her magic made with the wand as it pulsed gently in her grip. It fit snugly in her hand, pressing perfectly into the skin of her palm. Without much thought, Levy gave the wand a swish, sending an array of lights and letters flying around the shop, twirling and dancing as the flew. Levy gasped in shock as the letters came together, forming words as they danced.

"Amazing," Ollivander whispered in wonder, "I believe the wand has chosen its master!"

"Gihi! Shrimp, your doing your magic with the wand!" Gajeel cheered as he came forward, while Lily flew landing on the counter top. As Gajeel neared his mate, however, a loud crash was heard deeper in the shop, startling the group.

Ollivander looked quickly behind him, before turning forward to inspect Gajeel thoroughly, "wait right there sir," he said before rushing to the back.

"What'd I do?" Gajeel asked in confusion, but before anyone could answer, Ollivander came back with another box.

"Mrs. Levy, your wand's partner decided to make itself known," Ollivander said in amusement, before lifting the wand from it's box, "Here is Protecosapie, it's material is made from the claw of the sphinx - one of the strongest materials in the world - while it's core comes from the tooth of the Unkrainian Ironbelly - the strongest material in the world."

The wand was made of dark metal, almost black in the candle light. The base was wrapped like the handle of a sword in black cloth. The upper half was longer and thicker than Levy's, it was etched with scales all the way to the tip were it was tapered off like a blade, creating a sharper point. Ollivander then shoved the wand into Gajeel's open hand, which prompted the wand to start shooting off sparkles and swirls of fine metal, indicating the bond.

"My master said that that wand was made for the one who would safeguard the keeper of wisdom with the strength of a dragon," Ollivander explained, "as her husband, I would hope you would safeguard your wife."

"With my life," Gajeel said immediately.

"The names of those wands do your relationship justice," Dumbledore said kindly, smiling brightly at the pair.

"Their names sir?" Lily asked in question as he hopped onto Gajeel's shoulder.

"Yes," Dumbledore said nodding, "Levy's wand means 'Dragon's Heart' while Gajeel's means 'Protector of Wisdom'."

Lily laughed loudly, "those are very fitting names indeed!"

...

After paying for the wands, the group went back to Hogwarts, all while Gajeel and Levy practiced with there new wands. Levy was able to produce her words with her wand, making it act like a pen while Gajeel could make his wand change shape like his magic, creating a plethora of weapons of all shapes and sizes.

"It's pretty amazing that there would be wands for Gajeel and Levy here," Lily said in thought.

"Ollivander's master was said to have the gift of farsight," Dumbledore explained, "I wouldn't be surprised if he saw Gajeel and Levy coming and made wands in preparation."

"I don't care how they were made or when," Gajeel said gruffly, "all I care about is how cool this is! Hey! You guys think I could get it to do an Iron Dragon Roar?!"

"No, Gajeel wait!-" Levy cried but couldn't stop Gajeel from unleashing a smaller version of his Roar on an unsuspecting patch of trees, ripping and tearing them apart.

"Aw man! It was tiny!"

"Gajeel! What did I say about wrecking the environment!?"

Dumbledore laughed as Gajeel and Levy bickered, Lily took Levy's side in reprimanding the taller male which made the scene even more charming. "What a lovely family," Dumbledore mussed.

…

In the weeks following, both Levy and Gajeel were taught in the ways of magic - Hogwarts style. Levy, being the genius she was, excelled at a rate the boggled the minds of everyone, even Dumbeldore. In less than three weeks, she had completed the whole of Hogwarts curriculum while scoring perfect marks in both her mock OWLs and NEWTs. Levy had absorbed the whole of Hogwarts knowledge, impressing even the unpressable Snape, who took to enjoy long detailed discussions with the tiny bluenette. Gajeel had become very adapt in the usage of spells but had no patience for anything else, which was fine in his book since he would be in the shadows.

It was just a few days before the start of the year, Dumbledore had been busy the past week dealing with something about Harry so Levy, Gajeel, and Lily hadn't seen him but today they had a meeting in his office.

"Lets go over the plan," Dumbledore said, "Levy will act as a teacher for Magical Theory and as a teacher will be given all the authorities of a teacher. Your job will be to watch over the students as a member of the faculty, paying close attention to Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Lily will act as your cat, watching both the students and the school in disguise while relaying information between Levy and Gajeel and myself. Gajeel will take over watching the school as a whole in his shadow form, staying hidden and out of sight from the students. If you are even seen, we'll just spread the rumor that you are Levy's husband coming to visit her. Now, the person from the Ministry of Magic will be arriving tomorrow, Gajeel before the students come I want your total attention on her; find out everything you can. Is everything clear?"

"Yes Professor," Levy replied.

"Gihi! Its show time!" Gajeel cheered as Lily nodded in agreement.

Dumbledore chuckled at Gajeel's enthusiasm. Hogwarts has never seen anything like the Redfoxes but they might just be what this school needs.

_Remember to fave and review!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey guys! Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to my friends who don't celebrate Christmas! Sorry about the wait there, the end of the year is always super busy for me but heres a quick chapter. Please enjoy!_

It happened two days before the start of the school year; Gajeel had already developed a patrolling schedule and as he patrolled the front of the school, he noticed someone walking towards the front gate.

"Who's that?" Gajeel grumbled as he sunk back into the shadows before whipping across the walls to get a better look.

The first thing Gajeel notices was the horrific use of pink: Pink hat, pink suit, pink bag, and even pink shoes! The person turned out to be a middle-aged woman who - with that much pink - ended up looking like some exotic frog. As the woman neared the giant doors, the doors opened revealing Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Professor Dumbledore," the woman croaked in greeting, her unnaturally high voice piercing to Gajeel's sensitive ears, "the Minister sends his regards."

"Ms. Umbridge," Dumbledore replied with a smile, though even from a distance Gajeel could see the strain, "welcome to Hogwarts. You've arrived just in time, tonight is our first faculty meeting for the school year. I was hoping to introduce you and our other new teacher to the rest of the staff."

Umbridge seemed to freeze at this, "... another new teacher?" she asked after regaining her composure, "I wasn't aware that there was another teacher starting this year. Is the Minister aware of this?"

"Of course," Dumbledore replied casually, "It would certainly but unwise to keep such a thing from the Minister. He was informed promptly after the new teacher signed her contract. In fact, after revealing her credentials, he praised our choice. Mrs. Redfox will be an equally wonderful addition to Hogwarts, she'll be replacing our retired professor for Magical Theory. But I digress, why don't we continue our talk inside? Let me walk you to your new quarters and afterward, I can show you the school - some things have changed since your time here as a student." Before going in, however, Dumbledore glanced over to where Gajeel was hiding and gave him a wink.

"Check her stuff while Dumbledore distracts her, gotcha!" Gajeel chuckled as he interpreted the wink.

Gajeel followed after the three, listening as Umbridge drowned on and on about the Minster to which almost made Gajeel gag. It took some time, but after Umbridge left her bags and followed after Dumbledore, Gajeel was able to sneak into the room. Materializing from the shadows, Gajeel took a big whiff of the room. Turning out, during Gajeel and Levy's magic training, Gajeel discovered that he could smell the use of magic - along with magical enchantments. Somehow, the magic in this world gave off a particular scent that was too light for human noses to detect, but with Gajeel's heightened abilities, was child's play.

"The bitch put up an enchantment," Gajeel grumbled, "looks like she doesn't trust Dumbledore - which is fair since he doesn't trust her."

Pulling out his wand, Gajeel slowly went through the motions that Snape taught him to temporarily disarm an enchantment. His wand pulsed with power in his hand as Gajeel muttered the necessary words. Once Gajeel felt the air still, Gajeel began to examine the bags, all without opening them to prevent them from expanding. Peeking through bags using his shadows, Gajeel found nothing on interest save a few letters that he couldn't read using his skill.

"Gonna have to come back to check on these."

Pulling away, Gajeel re enabled the enchantment before slipping back out of the room. Sliding through the shadows of the school until he came to his own quarters where his mate and cat were waiting.

"The Ministry spy is here," Gajeel said as he dropped onto the couch next to Levy.

"Did anything happen?" Levy replied curiously.

Gajeel shook his head, "Nah, Dumbledore and McGonagall met her at the gate then took her on a tour. An ugly bitch that one, dressed in so much pink that even Flamehead would take offense Gihi! I went looking through her stuff when Dumbledore was distracting her and found nothing noticeable save for some letters but I couldn't read them."

"Pink?" Lily asked in confusion from Levy's lap.

"Yea, pink everything: hat, clothes, bags, and even shoes! Freaking looks like a toad or something. An older lady too so it does not fit her figure," Gajeel explained shivering in disgust.

"Have you reported to Dumbledore yet?" Levy asked.

"Not yet, they're still walking around with her. Oh, Dumbledore did tell her about you though, she didn't look happy."

"Hm, interesting. Wonder why she would be upset about something like that," Lily pondered.

"From their talk, it sounded like she thought Dumbledore was pulling a fast one over the Ministry. Straight up asked him if the Minster knew about this like he had to know. Something tells me that she's the Minister's lapdog, she talked about him like he was a national hero or something." Gajeel explained.

"That might be a problem," Levy said, brows furrowing slightly, "chances are she thinks Dumbledore and Harry are liars too. She'll be gunning for them for sure."

"Sound like we'll need to keep an extra eye on this lady," Gajeel grumbled in annoyance before looking at Levy, "Dumbledore told the spy that you two will meet at the faculty meeting tonight, what time is that anyways?"

"DInnertime," Levy replied, "Dumbledore explained to me earlier that the first meeting is like a feast. He plans on 'introducing' me and the spy to the rest of the faculty. Of course, the rest of the staff was here this summer and already in on the plan but we need to make it as believable as possible."

"Lily and I are just going to eat in here right?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah, but Dumbledore explained to me that I don't have to have my meals in the Grand Hall. Only during special events are teachers required to eat with the students, most of the time its just an option so we can still eat together here in the apartment." Levy explained.

"Gihi! Perfect! Ok then, until dinner let me tell you guys about what I've found! This school's a lot crazier than it appears…" Gajeel then when on in detail relaying the discoveries that he had found: Everything from a hidden chamber with a giant snake skeleton to a secret room where the room changes at a person's will to everything in between. Time flew as Gajeel recounted his discoveries until it was finally time for Levy to leave.

Levy stood at the door, wearing a long light blue dress with black and silver edging, silver heels and an iron wand holder, a black headband held her hair back from her face.

Levy gave a twirl, "well, what do you think? Do I look 'witch' enough?" she asked Gajeel.

"Definitely," Gajeel nodded, "something that's completely impractical for proper movement screams witch attire. Do you want Lily to go with you?"

"That would probably be for the best," Levy said in agreement, "considering that he's supposed to be my 'familiar'".

"Acting like a normal cat is so weird," Lily grumbled as he put away his sword and pants (AN: Poor Lily has to go pantless!) "It feels so wrong without my pants!"

"Aw, Lily!" Levy cooed as she picked up her little friend, "if it makes you feel better, I could get you one of those full-body sweaters that people have for their cats?"

Lily looked up at Levy with a look of horror, making Gajeel and Levy laugh loudly in mirth. "I'd rather be naked," Lily grumbled as he hopped up onto Levy's shoulders, pretending to be a cat, "let's just get this over with."

Levy kissed Gajeel goodbye before she and Lily left towards the grand hall.

"I thought Exceeds wore clothes for fashion and not a necessity?" Levy asked as they walked.

"You must remember that in the Exceed world I was my large size all the time," Lily explained, "being that big and without clothes was just plain weird. I've always worn at least pants for that reason."

As the pair came closer to the Grand Hall, Lily had to start acting like a cat, dropping their conversation. As Levy neared the doors to the Grand Hall, she ran into Professor McGonagall.

"Good evening Levy," McGonagall said before turning to Lily to whisper a hello as well, "how are you liking your stay here at Hogwarts?"

Levy smiled, understanding that now was the time to pretend, "It's wonderful! I've loved walking the halls, seeing all the many paintings and works of art! Your library is most impressive! Much larger than the one in Beauxbatons!"

The trio then walked into the hall, gaining the attention of the rest of the staff who were already there, along with Umbridge.

"Ah, the last of our faculty are here! Mrs. Redfox, I take it that you found the Hall alright? Or did Professor McGonagall help you?"

"I found her at the door Professor," McGonagall replied, "Mrs. Redfox seemed to have been getting the lay of the land today."

"The layout of the school is much different then Beauxbatons, it will take me a few weeks of wandering to ensure I don't get lost," Levy replied sheepishly, already feeling the laser-like stare of Umbridge.

"I've had many peaceful moments wandering the halls myself," Dumbledore said with a smile, "I'm sure you will be able to learn the school quickly my dear. Now, before we can begin our meeting, there are some proper introductions needed. Friends, I would like to introduce the two new teachers starting this year at Hogwarts: On my left is Miss Dolores Umbridge - a Hogwarts graduate -, who will be taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Umbridge worked for the Ministry of Magic as a Senior Undersecretary to the Mister himself." As Dumbledore spoke, Umbridge seemed to puff up with pride, clearly very proud of her position in the Ministry.

_She really does look like a toad_, Levy thought, biting her lip to prevent her laugher from slipping out.

"-and to my right is Mrs. Levy Redfox. Professor Redfox studied at Beauxbatons and after graduation with the highest honors went to study Magical Theory and practice in Ukraine. This will be Professor Redfox's first teaching assignment. But, I confess, I don't believe I've met your little friend Mrs. Redfox, who might this be?" Dumbledore asked while giving Lily a pat.

"Oh this is Lily," Levy said as she played along, "he's my familiar. He was a gift from my husband to keep me company here at Hogwarts. He's very protective, doesn't like me going anywhere without him."

"Meow," Lily said, sounding just like a cat - though a deep voiced cat.

"I must say, you certainly have a fine protector there Mrs. Redfox," Dumbledore praised, "such a smart looking cat indeed!"

Lily purred in thanks, biting his tongue to prevent a 'thank you' from slipping out. After Dumbledore's introduction, the staff began to mingle, asking both Umbridge and Levy questions about themselves and such. Many of the questions asked to Levy were repeats of the ones asked during the Redfox's introduction, but nevertheless, they made it sound believable that this was the first time Levy had met them.

Levy had been speaking with Madam Poppy, when after Poppy turned to leave, she was cornered by Umbridge herself.

"Mrs. Redfox, if you don't mind me asking," Umbridge said, pulling Levy from Poppy's retreating form, "how old are you?"

"Oh! Hello!" Levy squeaked, acting surprised, "my age? Oh, I'm twenty-six. Why do you ask?"

Umbridge gave the girl a once over, as if in disbelief, "twenty-six? You look as if you could be a student."

"Oh, I get that all the time," Levy replied, smiling shyly, "I've always been of...small stature, so people have always thought I was younger than I really was. You should see it when I go to Diagon Alley! So many people ask me when I'm shopping where my parents are! No one believes me when I tell them my age until I show them my identification."

"I wouldn't believe it either," Umbridge droned, "but twenty-six is still very young, much too young to be married! Did your parents approve of this?"

Levy's smile twitched, as she fought to keep her smile - thought fake - still on her face. "Unfortunately, my parents never got to meet my husband. They passed away when I was a student - they were curse breakers, they passed on the job - but I firmly believe that they would have loved him. Gajeel, though a little intimidating, has such a kind heart and really dotes on the people he cares for." Lily purred, as in agreement.

"And what does you husband do?" Umbridge asked, "is he in Magical Theory as well?"

"Oh no," Levy laughed, "no, he doesn't have the patience for it. No, he works as a Dragon Keeper in the Ukraine. He studies the Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragons in particular. We actually met in the Ukraine, while I was working on my Postgraduates."

"That's quite a...difference between your occupations," Umbridge said stiffly, "but wouldn't the distance be hard on your relationship?"

"Professor Dumbledore has already granted my husband access during the weekends and breaks to visit," Levy said, still smiling, "That, and my husband's owl will be delivering letters back and forth between us so at least we will have a steady stream of communication between us."

Umbridge gave Levy a stiff look, "...well, that's very nice of the headmaster. You should treasure the opportunity while you can."

Before Levy could say anything else, Umbridge walked away to the next victim.

"Gajeel's right," Levy mumbled under her breath to Lily, "she is a bitch, and definitely up to something."

…

That night, Gajeel sat with Dumbledore in the headmaster's office, reporting back what he found.

"Those letters do pertice my interest, but we must wait til Miss Umbridge unpacks," Dumbledore said in agreement, "what bothers me more is what Umbridge said to Levy. That was an underlying threat if I've ever heard one."

Gajeel growled deeply, "yea, Shrimp told me about that. Pissed me off that one did but realy, that was stupid of the pink toad - she practically gave herself away there."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "yes, I agree with you. It's almost as if she thinks the Ministry can't be stopped. But the one who assumes victory without the work is but a fool, the Minister doesn't know the Hogwarts has three particularly powerful protectors lying in wait."

Gajeel grinned darkly, "and that will be their downfall."

_Fave and review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Guys, I'm so sorry about the long wait! I've unfortunately ran into some health issues that took my time away from writing, and between therapy, work, and school this story just fell through the cracks. I know this is a short chapter but to be completely honest, I don't know when I'll be able to finish this story. Until I have more time this story is going on slow burn. I hope you guys can forgive me! _

_Guys, after some thought, I realized that if I want this story to have more Fairy Tail impact on the Harry Potter world, I needed to change a few things from the fifth movie/book. Hopefully, you guys will appreciate the changes!_

The next few days were stressful, to say the least; between preparing for the school year and investigating Umbridge, Levy, Gajeel, and Lily were exhausted. But their efforts had not been in vain, Gajeel had been able to snoop through Umbridge's things, finding a detailed list of instructions from the Minster himself - it was an almost step by step instructions on taking over Hogwarts.

"This is very worrying," Dumbledore confused, slumped at his desk as Gajeel stood in front of him - much like the night a couple of days before. "I had hoped that my worries on the ministry's actions would have been for not, but it doesn't seem to be so."

"What would you have me do?" Gajeel asked, his arms crossed in tension.

"Nothing for now," Dumbledore said, "not with the new term starting tomorrow, but I do need your help with something else. As you know, I was preoccupied with matters related to Harry; he had been attacked a few weeks ago and was forced to use his magic to defend himself. The Minster tried to have him expelled from Hogwarts but luckily I was able to intervene but I'm still worried. I have a group, an order, if you will, who can safeguard him to Hogwarts but I need you to find to pay extra attention to him. I fear that his life might be in danger - and from more than one source."

"Understood,' Gajeel replied grimly. Levy had informed him prior to Harry's background and even Black Steel Gajeel's heart went out to the kid - no one deserves to live their lives with guardians who hated him and in fear of your life from some supreme dark lord.

Dumbledore nodded before turning towards the window, "tomorrow is the big day, we need to be as prepared as possible."

…

It was the day of the students' arrival and Levy had been frantically trying to keep her composure. From her window, she could see the stream of students shuffling into the castle - students who were almost her age biologically!.

"Oh….I wish Gajeel was here instead of patrolling…" Levy moaned as she paced in their apartment, missing Lily entering the room.

"Levy? Are you alright?" Lily asked, flying to land on the windowsill in front of her.

"Oh! Lily! Yes, I'm alright," Levy said smiling at her friend, "I'm just a little...nervous. That's all."

Lily smiling teasingly, "the first day of school jitters?"

Levy nodded, blushing slightly, "I've never taught anyone before...well, nothing so formal I guess. What if they don't take me seriously because I'm so young?"

"Levy, relax," Lily said as he jumped to give her a hug, "once they hear how smart you are, there's no way they won't respect you! And for some reason they don't, just pretend to be Gajeel for a bit!"

This made Levy laugh loudly, shaking her lithe frame along with her furry friend. "Oh Lily, you always know how to cheer me up," Levy said smiling, hugging the cat closer to her, "what would I do without you two?"

A bell rang out at that point, drawing her and Lily's attention.

"Well, that our que, ready Lily?" Levy asked as she started out the door. Lily nodded and the two made their way to the main hall.

…

Harry was at his wits end; it was almost as if he had been cursed with poor luck since the end of last term! Tugging his suitcase along, he glared weakless at the backs of Ron and Herminione as they made their way to the carriages.

"Are you feeling ok Harry?" a nervous voice chimed in from his left.

"Yeah, I'm ok Neville," Harry replied, sending a tiny smile to his tall friend, "just tired from the train ride - that's all."

…

If Harry had any doubt before on his luck, those doubts had all disappeared after coming face to face with the Pink Toad from his trail. Harry groaned as he dropped his head onto the table, trying to block out the droning pain of his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's dull speech.

"Did you guys see the other new teacher?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry, eyeing the young woman sitting next to McGonagall.

"Yeah, isn't her hair wild!" Ron replied, his mouth stuffed with some candy from the train, causing Hermione to twitch in disgust.

"Roland, her hair isn't important!" Hermione replied shoving the boy away from her, "I was talking about her age! Look at her! She can't be much older than we are and she's already a teacher!"

"Maybe she's really smart or something?" Ron grumbled, "I'm much more worried about the toad blabbing her mouth right now then some young teacher - right Harry?"

Harry groaned in agreement without lifting his head from the table. Harry buried his head into his arms, trying to block out the sound of the toad, peoples whispers, and even the voices of his friends. He was just so..tired. Tired of the feelings of jealousy, envy and abandonment that he couldn't seem to shake off. He was tired of the pain in his heart and in his head that have been there since the last term. Even here in Hogwarts where he normally felt most at home, all he felt was isolation and tenseness.

The school year had only just started but Harry didn't know if he was ready.

Hermione and Ron both glanced worriedly at Harry, unsure how to make him feel better. Unbeknown to them, however, there were a few other pairs of eyes the watched the troubled boy with just as much concern.

…

After the feast, Ron and Hermione had to escort the first years to the dorm, leaving Harry alone by himself again - only this time there was no Neville, for he had run off to check the plants in the green house. Instead of going to the dorms, Harry chose to wander the halls, saying hello to different paintings and ghosts as he traveled aimlessly, trying anything to calm his nerves. Rounding a corner, Harry found an empty hallway, void of other any person save for one - a black cat.

The cat was...strange: He was all black save for his muzzle which was white and the deep scar that was on the side of its face. The top of his head was a set of rounded ears - like that of a stuffed bear instead of a cat. The cat stared up at Harry, his eyes gleaming with intelligence that Harry didn't think was normal for a cat - even a magical one. Harry paused in hesitation, unsure if this truly was a cat or someone who was transformed.

"Hello…" Harry called out cautiously, in which the cat replied with a deep meow - so deep that it startled Harry a bit. Stretching, the cat got up to leave but as he left he turned and meow

at Harry - as if to follow.

Against his better judgement, Harry decided to follow that cat down the halls until coming to a classroom. Stopping at the door, Harry watched as the cat made it's way into the room to jump into the arms of a young woman.

"Oh! Hello!" The young woman said in surprise, her brown eyes widening with emphasis beneath her bright blue hair - it was the new teacher, Professor Redfox. "I thought most of the students would be in their dorms by now, what brings you here Mr. Potter?" she asked with a calm smile.

"Oh, um," Harry fumbled, "I- ah, was following...your cat?"

Professor Redfox blinked at the boy before glancing down at the furry beast in her arms, "following Lily huh? Well, normally Lily's not a fan of being followed so he must have thought you needed to come to me."

"You're male cat's name is Lily?" Harry blurted out without thinking, causing him to blush.

But Professor Redfox didn't seem to take offense - unlike the cat that proceeded to glare daggers at him - instead, she threw her head back laughing. "Yes, he gets that alot," the professor giggled, "his real name is Patherlily, but we've always just called Lily for short. Don't let his name fool you! He happened to be a mighty warrior cat!"

"'We' Ma'am?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Yes! My husband and I," Professor Redfox said smiling, "Lily is a gift from my husband you see - to keep me company while I'm away for the school term." Professor Redfox put Lily down before walking up to Harry and gestured him to take a seat. "Now, Lily has an uncanny ability to know when something is wrong and I firmly believe that that's why Lily brought you here, would you like to sit and talk about it?"

Harry didn't know what to do, a large part of him wanted to say 'no thank you' and to leave but….but…. There was an even larger part that wanted to sit down, wanted to talk - even though he knew there were things that he could never tell anyone. This was the first time Harry had ever spoken to the new professor and yet, for some reason, deep in his gut he knew that he was safe with her.

As if his body had a mind of its own, Harry found himself sitting down at the desk across from Professor Redfox.

"So Harry," the professor started as she sat down as well, "what seems to be bothering you?"


	6. Chapter 6

_Guys due to the pandemic I now have some time to write! Hopefully, I can crank out some chapters while everyone is quarantined LOL. _

Harry fell into a routine: Wake up, eat breakfast while everyone was whispering about him, go to class with everyone whispering about him, eat lunch with everyone whispering about him, and at the end of the school day hide in Professor Redfox's classroom until bed. Ron and Hermione tried to help him as much as possible; talking over the whispers or pulling him away but there wasn't anything two people could do against a couple hundred.

Harry had never felt so alone; Hogwarts was his home, his safe place - now it felt more of a prison than his Aunt and Uncles. He tried to block it out at first, just ignore the whispers but it was hard when one of his 'teachers' was the same pink toad that tried to get him expelled in the first place. Not only that but with the Daily Prophet spreading their lies and rummers; many of the friends who stuck with Harry at the beginning were starting to pull away.

It felt like the only save place in the castle was in Professor Redfox's classroom. Professor Redfox always let him do his homework in her classroom, allowing him to hide from the rest of the school. Sometimes Hermione and Ron joined him, sometimes not. Professor Redfox was also a great listener; Harry could complain to her about everything - he felt so relaxed around her that nothing was off the table - and she knew what to say to help him feel better or help him see his problem in a different light.

Plus, she was a great teacher who knew just about everything. Harry never felt so prepared for classes before in his life!

"Would you like any cookies, Harry?" Professor Redofx asked as she sat across from him at her desk grading papers. Her cat, Lily, was sleeping on the desk next to him; his rumbles filling the room with a calming background sound.

Harry looked up from his potions homework, "no thank you Professor, I'm not hungry."

Professor Redfox frowned at him, "Harry you haven't had any dinner yet. In fact, have you been having dinner at all? You're always here during dinner time."

Harry felt his face flush, the truth was he hadn't been having any dinner. Dinner was always the longest meal here at Hogwarts and Harry didn't think he could stand having to sit through it with everyone talking about him behind his back.

Professor Redfox must have noticed his face because her frown got even deeper. "Harry, you need to eat," she chided, "you're a growing kid in the middle of your peek growing period - trust me, being short isn't all that fun."

Harry couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling out from him. There was no easy way to spin it: Professor Redfox was the smallest human teacher at Hogwarts - there were some first years taller than her! In the first few weeks of school, many of the older students had been put off by how young she looked. Many claimed she was too young to be teaching them and this resulting in many students disrespecting her in class.

That didn't last very long, however.

As sweet as Professor Redfox might be, she was ruthless at docking points and giving out detentions. In a matter of a week, she had all four houses crippled in house points and half the upper grades in detention. She was the living personification of 'Tiny Terror'.

That and there was a rumor going around that Lily almost mauled a particularly disrespectful student but Harry had yet confirmed this.

Professor Redfox pouted at Harry as he was bent over in laughter, before standing from her desk. "I have just the thing for you to try," Professor Redfox said as she tucked into her chambers for a moment only to come back with a wrapped package. "They're meat pies!"

Professor Redfox placed the package on her desk, unwrapping them to release a smell most delicious that it made Harry's mouth water in an instant. With a flick of her wand, a piping hot meat pie floating over onto Harry's desk. Without hesitation, Harry bit into the pie only to melt.

"These are amazing!" He cried, "they might be the best meat pie I ever had! Did you make them?"

At that moment, Lily chuffed - as if laughing - which caused Professor Redfox to blush before scowling at her cat. "Er, no…. I didn't make them" she began hesitantly, "my husband did - he sent them over this afternoon. I'm not, um, exactly gifted in the art of cooking." Lily chuffed again, only louder this time, causing Harry to chuckle as well. "Lily, keep that up and you won't be getting any kiwis for a while," Professor Redfox said glaring at her cat who stopped in a heartbeat.

Harry peered at the cat in confusion, "...kiwis?"

Professor Redfox laughed, "yes, Lily is very fond of kiwis - maybe even a little too fond of them."

The cat in question seemed to deflate at the statement, hanging his little head in shame. Wishing to spare the cat that Harry had become very fond of, Harry redirected the conversation.

"Tell me more about your husband, Professor; all I know about him is that he works with dragons and is apparently a fantastic cook - how did you two meet?"

The rest of the evening Harry learned a great deal about the man who was Professor Redfox's other half - unbeknown to him that the man in question wasn't all the way in Ukraine but here in the castle, reporting back to Dumbledore.

…

"These letters are truly disturbing," Dumbledore said, sighing as he read them over. The letters in particular which belonged to Professor Umbridge - ones that Gajeel intercepted. The letters were her recent report to the Minister - which was nothing more than lies and dramatized events.

"What do you want to do with them?" Gajeel asked, "they could get us into a lot of trouble."

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Even with how unbelievable most of this is, I could see Fudge using this against us." Dumbledore mused. "But if we were to alter them somehow it could get us into even more trouble. I believe we need leverage." Dumbledore then rose from his seat and made his way to his bookshelf when he pulled out a file hidden between the tomes.

"Here contains some information I've...acquired over time." Dumbledore explained as he handed it to Gajeel, "Umbridge is going to try to take as much power as possible for the Minister. We just need to make sure she can't take too much power, and the best way to do that would make the minister hesitate."

Gajeel nodded but frowned, "wouldn't it be easier to just pin them down with something? Threaten with some dirt or something?"

Dumbledore chuckled at Gajeel's nickname, "maybe so, but it could also backfire - I don't take Umbridge as the smartest tool in the Minister's tool box. She might act anyways even if we find something on her."

Gajeel thought for a moment, before a smile most cruel spread across his face; twisting it to reveal a glimpse of a man long gone but still hidden in the shadows of Gajeel's heart. "She might not act if it's dirt on her beloved Minster though - something so bad that the Minister put a halt on their plan."

Dumbledore couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine, the darkness in Gajeel's eyes gave the man pause. Though Dumbledore admits to not knowing as much about the young man as he would have liked too, Dumbledore truly believed that Mr. Redfox was a good man - otherwise, there was no way a girl like Levy could fall for him.

"...What did you have in mind?" Dumbledore asked tentatively.

Gajeel flipped through the file briefly but nothing was just right. "I'm going to need more than this," the larger man said, "something like mishandling of funds or jeopardizing public safety and security. Then we can twist it a bit - make it sound more directed to the school - and present it to Ugly as a 'concern' considering she's so 'buddy-buddy' with the Minister himself. She'll be so flustered that it might keep her quiet enough to find something better to pin the Minister himself."

Dumbledore could only stare at the man in awe - and slight fear. He was sure glad Gajeel wasn't his enemy. "That...could work," Dumbledore said once his voice came back, "but how are we supposed to find anything else? My resources in the Ministry are stretched a little...thin… and none of my contacts are so close to Fudge that they could get that type of information."

Gajeel grinned darkly again, "leave that part to me - show me the way to their headquarters and I'll do the rest."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "first thing tomorrow."

Dumbledore watched Gajeel turn to leave before a thought occurred to him. "Gajeel my boy," Dumbledore said, making the man pause, "how...how exactly did you get these letters anyways? I thought you said Umbridge had already sent them?"

Gajeel grinned, "trade secret."

…

It was later in the evening when all the students should have been in bed for the night. Levy was on her first patrol as a teacher, along with Lily, as the two did a final sweep of the halls.

"I guess Gajeel is going to London tomorrow," Levy said softly to Lily, "he's going to the Ministry of Magic - by himself - the very thought makes me nervous."

Lily chuckled, "why? Afraid that you might become the Queen of the wizards and witches overnight? I believe Gajeel said something once about that being on his bucket list - making you ruler of a country or something." Lily teased.

"Oh for all that is good and holy," Levy moaned, slapping her face softly. "He would do it too, wouldn't he. I'm happy with just being Queen of our household. Thank you very much. I don't think I could handle these magic folk to be completely honest - the populace seems very whiny and wimpy."

Lily was able to laugh but stilled, "... I think I hear someone walking in the hallway ahead." Lily said very quietly before jumping off to walk in front of Levy. As the pair neared the intersection, they came face to face with none other than Umbridge.

"Professor Umbridge!" Levy gasped, pretending to be surprised, "you frightened me!"

Umbridge didn't say anything, she just looked down at Lily, "do you bring your cat everywhere with you Professor Redfox?" the woman asked as she eyed Lily who glared at her back.

"Um… yes, I do," Levy asked in confusion, "why do you ask?"

"No reason; is there a reason you're walking the halls this late Professor?" Umbridge asked haughtily as she turned her attention to the shorter woman.

"Um...yes, in fact, it's my turn for the nightly staff patrol," Levy answered her in confusion, "did you by any chance forget the schedule?"

Umbridge paused and in the dim light, Levy thought she saw a flushed to the older woman's cheeks. "...right, it must have slipped my mind. Anyways, I was just out for a bit of a nightly walk - I like to exercise a bit before going to bed you know - so I'll be off." Umbridge said as she hastily walked past Levy, hurrying down the halls until out of sight.

"I don't buy that excuse for a second," Lily said jumping up onto Levy's shoulders, "she was up to something."

"There are classrooms down this way," Levy said in agreement, "I think we might want to have Gajeel check her room tonight."

…

As expected, when Gajeel came back from Umbridge's chambers, he came with an armful of stolen goods - goods she probably planned to use as evidence.

"They all still have their rightful owners' smells on them," Gajeel explained, "I sneak around and return things."

…

The next morning, during her break period, Levy ran into Umbridge a second time. "Good Morning Professor," Levy said cheerfully, "how are you this morning?"

"Awful," the other woman growled darkly at the girl, "and it's none of your business." the woman then huffed away, clearly pissed that her plan was foiled.

Levy giggled as the woman retreated and Lily smiled smugly, "Team Redfox 1 - Team Ugly 0."

…

While Team Redfox was scoring some points against Umbridge, Harry had not been so lucky. He was now stuck with afternoon detention with the Witch. Harry dragged himself to her classroom, fully prepared for a beating - though he never expected what he ended up getting.

"You want me to do what professor?" Harry asked in his seat with a piece of paper and a pen sitting before him.

"You will write 'I must not tell lies' Mr. Potter," Umbridge replied sickly sweetly.

"...but I don't have any ink professor," Harry said hesitantly.

"Oh that's quite alright," she replied even more sweetly, "these are special pens - they have their own special ink."

A cold grip of fear held him as he timidly put his pen to the paper, as if too afraid to write anything. Looking up, he saw Umbridge's smiling face that taunted him. Taking a deep breath, Harry began, only to gasp in pain. There, written on his hand, was the letter 'I' which was mirrored on his page - in his own blood. Harry looked up at Umbridge in horror which she simply returned with a smile.

"You're not done writing Mr. Potter."

…

Harry grabbed his hand as he ran from the room, tears of rage threatened to pool in his eyes as he pressed his handkerchief onto his hand to cover his wound.

"Harry?" a voice called out to him, there were Ron and Hermione waiting for him down the hall. "Harry? Harry what happened?!" Hermione cried as she caught sight of the bloody cloth on hand.

"...Umbridge's idea of detention," Harry said, grinding his teeth.

"Bloody Hell! That's not even humane!" Ron choked as he caught sight of what was on his hand, "is that even allowed?"

"It shouldn't be!" Hermione growled, "Harry we need to show this to Professor Dumbledore-"

"No!" Harry yelled, startling the other two, "no, no I don't need any more trouble. I-I just want to go to bed."

"Harry! You're bleeding!" Hermione exclaimed, "you need to get this checked - and tell someone!"

"I said I'm not-"

"Children?" A voice interrupted them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around to find Professor Redfox hurrying towards them with her cat, "what happened? I just heard Miss Granger say one of you is bleeding?" Professor Redfox paused when she caught sight of Harry's hand. "...Harry who did this to you?" Professor Redfox asked darkly as she took hold of his hand.

"I…" Harry began but he couldn't seem to get the words out.

Professor Redfox turned her gaze onto Hermione and Ron, "who did this?" she asked for a second time, anger radiation off her in waves, frightening the three.

"It was Umbridge, Professor!" Ron squeaked, sweat budding on his forehead, "Harry just got back from detention with her!"

Professor Redfox glared darkly, before pulling out her wand to take care of Harry's hand. "Lily," Levy said, starling the three students, as she turned to stare at her cat, "find her," Professor growled.

Lily meowed deeply before hopping off his shoulder and racing around the corner. Harry felt the same grip of fear return, only intensified. He had never seen Professor Redfox like this; he could almost feel the magic around her swirl with rage - something only really powerful wizards and witches could do.

Harry never wanted to be on the receiving end of her rage, that's for sure.

"Professor," Hermione asked trembling, before licking her lips, "what...what are you going to do?"

"Nothing that concerns you three, "Professor Redfox said gently but firmly, "Miss Granger, I need you and Mr. Weasly to take Mr. Potter here back to your dorms and for you three not to mention this to anyone - I'll handle everything."

Hermione nodded quickly before taking hold of Harry's newly healed hand to drag him to the dorms. Once the three were out of eye and ear range Ron wheezed in relief. "Bloody Hell, she might be scarier than Snape!"

…

Umbridge sat at her desk going over paperwork, feeling quite gleeful at putting that brat Harry in his place - no more lies about the Dark Lord coming from that boy, that's for sure! Umbridge was so preoccupied by her thoughts that she didn't even notice the small black blur that raced into her classroom until it _roared._

Screaming in fright, Umbridge whipped to come face to face with a snarling cat - the black cat of that Redfox girl. In fear Umbridge jumped up from her seat, trying to shoo the cat away but with no luck as the cat proceeded to hiss and try to swipe her.

"You! You! Bastardly cat!" Umbridge cried as she went for her wand only for it to be ripped from hands by the very cat she wanted to blast. Jumping away, Lily growled holding the Ugly Pink Toad's wand in his mouth.

"Professor," a voice called out from the doorway. Professor Redfox stood at the doorway, glaring darkly at the woman as she stepped into the room.

"Redfox!" Umbridge huffed, "correct your cat!"

"How about I correct you?" Levy growled as with a switch of her wand closed the classroom doors and locked them. This caused Umbridge to pause, her face drained of blood as her eyes widened in shock.

"I-I beg your pardon!?" Umbridge cried, trying to regain footing as the shorter woman came closer, eyes dark with rage.

"Oh you will beg pardon when I'm done with you," Levy said darkly, "care to explain why I found a student coming out of your classroom with _words carved into his hand_?"

Umbridge paused, sweat starting to bud from her temple as she eyed the short woman. No one was supposed to see that! "I, I was simply disciplining a student Professor Redfox! The boy wasn't in any harm!"

"Oh?" Levy asked darkly, "then why was his hand bloody? If I recall correctly that is against both school rules and child protection laws, Professor Umbridge. As someone who claims to have worked so closely with the Minister of Magic - I would have thought you knew that."

Umbridge felt the blood drain even more from her face as she backed away from the younger woman. "It-it wasn't anything of that caliber Professor Redfox!"

"I disagree, Professor Umbridge, in fact this would certainly be grounds for removal which would certainly look quite bad for the Minister wouldn't it? One of his top aides removed due to child abuse - I can see it all over the papers." Levy threatened as she came within arm's length of the other woman, watching with an unmoved face as the woman looked like she was about to break down.

"No!" Umbridge wailed, she hadn't thought of that! Oh! What would the Minister think?! "Please! I'll do anything!"

"Hm…" Levy pretended to muse, "and what about your thieving? Don't think I didn't notice what you were doing that night. A child abuser and a thief within the upper management of our government? What a _scandal_!"

A whimper of fear welled from Umbridge's lips as she fell to her knees, begging. "Please! I wasn't stealing anything! I-I was trying to find evidence! Honest!"

"Evidence?" Levy asked, a single brow rising, "evidence would suggest a crime had happened - are you suggesting that some crime is going on here in Hogwarts Professor?"

"I…." Umbridge choked.

"Because if you are, then it would also suggest that your position here at Hogwarts was by no means chance. Do you mean to claim that the Minister of Magic himself sent someone to Hogwarts to find incriminating evidence against someone?" Levy continued taking another step forwards, causing Umbridge to fall back onto her butt.

"I….I"

"Because if you are Professor Umbridge, I encourage you to think otherwise. There are some among us who were not exactly pleased with the government for not doing anything last school term when that poor boy died - for not even bothering to investigate the matter. And I ensure you if you try to attack Hogwarts I will personally drag you and your Minister through hell," Levy growled darkly right in Umbridge's face, "and if you try to hurt another student like that again I'm putting the same marks _on your face_!"

Levy pulled back, turned and walked out of the room with Lily following her at her heels, dropping Umbridge's wand at the doorway.

No one hurts a child like that on Levy's watch.

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	7. Chapter 7

_Hi Guys! Sorry about the wait, life's been a little more hectic then I thought it would be. I'm done with school for the semester, however, so I should be able to update this more regularly. I hope you enjoy!_

*Gajeel's adventure to the Ministry of Magic*

Gajeel had left early in the morning before Levy and Lily were even awake. He made his way through the castle to Dumbledore's office, finding Dumbledore waiting for him.

"Good morning Mr. Redfox," the older man said cheerfully as if waking up at 5 in the morning was a normal event, "are you ready for your first time using the Floo Network?"

Gajeel eyed the chimney in question, "ready as I'll ever be to travel like Santa Claus."

"Oh, you have Santa in your world too?" Dumbledore asked in interest, "most fascinating. We must discuss this in more detail another time. For now, Let me explain the Floo Network."

Dumbledore walked over to the chimney and took hold of a small pot resting on the mantle. "In here is Floo Powder," the professor explained, "when standing in the chimney, you recite the name of the desired destination and throw a handful of the powder at your feet. You should then be able to transport to the correct location."

"Which is The Leaky Cauldron right?" Gajeel asked in confirmation.

"Yes, once you arrive, you need to find a man named Arthur Weasley - he's Ron's father. He will be your contact to get in and out of the Ministry" Dumbledore continued.

"Does he know what I am?" Gajeel asked as he came to the chimney.

"He knows that you are under my protection and acting as a protector at Hogwarts, he does not know that you came from another world, however." Dumbledore clarified.

Gajeel nodded, "good, the less that know, the better."

Standing in the chimney, Gajeel had to crouch down painfully. Taking a handful of the powder, he gave Dumbledore a nod before throwing the powder down at his feet, "The Leaky Cauldron!" he chanted before vanishing in thin air.

"Oh," Dumbledore thought aloud after a moment, "I probably should have warned him about Mr. Weasley - I don't think Gajeel is particularly fond of overly chatty people."

…

When Gajeel opened his eyes, he found himself in a dimly lit pub with only a sole man sitting at the bar, nursing some coffee. At the sound of Gajeel's entrance, the man looked over in excitement. From the looks of the man, Gajeel deduced that this was Mr. Wealsey. Mr. Wealsey seemed to pause, however, once he got a good look at Gajeel before turning quickly back to his drink. This caused Gajeel to raise his brow in question.

Walking over to the man, Gajeel took a seat before turning, "are you Arthur Weasley?" Gajeel asked, starling the man.

"Uh," he started, "yes, yes I am. By….by any chance are you Mr. Redfox?"

Gajeel nodded causing the man's eyes to widen in shock.

"Oh you must forgive me!" he squeaked, appearing to flush, "Professor Dumbledore didn't really give a description of you, only the time we would be meeting! I-I….I didn't take you as a man that the professor would hire to watch Hogwarts…"

Gajeel threw his head back in laugher, catching the attention of the barkeep who grumbled at him from the other side of the room. "My looks are part of the trade," Gajeel said chuckling, "If you look Big and Bad, fewer people want to mess with you."

Arthur nodded as if understanding, "yes, I guess that makes sense. Well, then. We best be off, we need to beat the morning rush in if we want to sneak you in and out unnoticed."

Arthur then rose and made his way out the door. Gajeel followed close behind, as the pair made their way through town, with Arthur chatting non stop - much to Gajeel's annoyance. After a while, however, they finally made their way over to a seamlessly ordinary telephone box, in which Gajeel could smell the magic encased in the structure as he eyed the enclosure.

"I think if we squeeze, we can both fit," Arthur said as he climbed into the box.

Gajeel sucked in next to him as he watched the man turn the code to start the machine. The box started slowly before rapidly dropping, causing Gajeel's stomach to flop, but before his motion sickness could take full effect, they found themselves at the end of a large room, filled with hallways and doors.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic," Arthur whispered as he got out of the box.

Gajeel sniffed the room on instinct, smelling all the lingering smells of wizards and witches that had left the night prior, along with the hanging waft of magic in the air. Arthur watched all this with fascination and confusion.

"What...are you doing?" the older man asked in the question.

"Feeling out the magic," Gajeel lied before standing tall, "I need you to give me clear instruction on how to get to Fudge's office - I don't need you to take me there - I just need instruction. Also, instructions on where to find you once I'm done."

Arthur seemed hesitant, but he gave his instruction anyways. Once that was done Gajeel told him to go wait in his office.

Arther turned to leave but stopped before looking back saying, "are you sure you don't-" but Gajeel was already gone, seemingly vanishing in thin air. "My goodness," Arthur said marveling, "how did he do it?"

By the time Arthur was asking himself that question, Gajeel was already zooming down the halls in his shadow form, blending perfectly into the existing shadows - completely moving undetected. Gajeel didn't stop once he came to the door - even though Arthur had warned him it would be enchanted - for even magic couldn't detect him as he hid in the shadows. Partially reforming in the office, Gajeel began to search for clues. After about ten minutes of searching, Gajeel found a hidden filing cabinet, enchanted away from the human eye, which Gajeel made quick work in disabling the charm. Inside was a treasure trove of information - all of which was perfect for pinning the man down.

Collecting what he needed, Gajeel paused at the sound of footsteps. Quickly, Gajeel reactivated the charm and dove into the shadows, just in time for Fudge himself to walk in, muttering to himself. Gajeel was about to make a break for the door when he caught the sound of Dumbledore's name.

"...Umbridge hasn't found anything yet on Dumbledore," the Minister muttered, "It's already Halloween! I wanted to make her High Inquisitor by now!"

Fudge then came to sat at his desk, sighing, "I can't have Dumbledore misleading the people into thinking that...HE's back. The whole country would go to ruin! Mass panic everywhere! No, the Dark Lord has not returned! He won't return! We have nothing to fear!"

Fudge seemed done with the matter, as he went on muttering about something else - which Gajeel had no interest in. The news of this new title for Umbridge, however, did make him worry. Not wanting to waste any more time, Gajeel zoomed out of the office, keeping tightly to the shadows as he made his way to Arthur's office. Upon arriving at the right hallway, Gajeel materialized after checking for the coast to be clear, before making his way to the door. Gajeel knocked before entering, starling Arthur as he stood pacing at the door.

"Did you get lost?" Arthur asked, clearly distressed that Gajeel was back so soon.

Gajeel shook his head, "Nah, I got what I came for. Fudge showed up so I had to get out fast, we're good, he didn't see me."

"How did you do it so fast?" Arthur asked in amazement, "it would have taken me just as long to walk there myself!"

Gajeel grinned, "trade secret."

Arthur led Gajeel back to the entrance, and did the code for him to leave, "you know how to get back to the pub?" he asked.

Gajeel nodded, "yeah I should be good. Thanks for all the help, you really helped Dumbledore and me out."

Arthur nodded, "of course, my children go to that school - it's any good father's desire to protect his children."

Gajeel grinned at the man once more before the phonebox pulled him back up. Once on the surface, Gajeel made his way to the still empty bar and hopped into the chimney. "Dumbledore's Office!" he called out as he threw down the floo powder, vanishing once again.

Back at the office, Gajeel stumbled out as Dumbledore hurried out to him.

"Did you find anything?" the professor asked.

"Tons," Gajeel grunted as he dusted off the soot from his clothes, "and not all good news."

Gajeel handed over what he had found as he told Dumbledore what he had overheard Fudge said, causing the older man to frown darkly.

"We can not let that happen," Dumbledore proclaimed, "if he were to make Umbridge High Inquisitor, she would be given the power to rummage through all the staff and students' belongings - and might even be able to fire someone."

"I think we found plenty to keep the Minister off our backs for now," Gajeel concluded, "won't be able to fire the Toad though."

Dumbledore carried the documents over to his desk, "I will need to examine these more closely, however, I might not be able to do this until after the weekend - It's Halloween after all."

Gajeel cocked his head to the side, "Fudge said that too. If your Halloween is anything like our Halloween, I don't understand why both of you seem to make this out to be something big."

"You have Helloween also?" Dumbledore said in amazement, "well, for the magic community, Halloween is a very important holiday: It's a day to celebrate the magic and its roots. The children will have the day off from classes and there will be a big feast in the Grand Hall. Staff members who had spouses normally invited them to the feast, in fact, This might be a fine time to 'introduce' you to the staff and school!"

Gajeel was still confused but it did fit in with his "role" on the mission so whatever. "When is Halloween here?"

"It's on Friday this year, so only 2 more days to go!" Dumbledore exclaimed, "Now, most of the staff and students are probably up and about now. Best be off before someone sees you."

…

The rest of the day was uneventful save for Levy going batshit on the Ugly Toad, which Gajeel would have paid to see, and soon it was already Friday; Gajeel had to get ready to be "introduced".

…

Gajeel had to bite his tongue to prevent him from laughing at the faces of the students as he walked through the halls, being "shown around" by Levy - who was clinging to his arm, playing up the "I missed my husband" act.

"And this hallway is where most of the other classes are," Levy giggled as she held Gajeel's arm, "the Grand Hall is down this way too so many of the students like to mingle here - Oh! Here are some of my students now!" Levy said as she pointed to Harry, Ron, and Hermione who stood there gobsmacked.

Levy pulled her giant of a husband over to them, Gajeel grinning as he watched Ron turn pale.

"Hello you three," Levy said cheerfully, "I'd like you to meet my husband, Gajeel Redfox. Darling, here are 3 of my fifth-year students: Harry, Ron, and Hermione!"

"It's nice to meet you," Gajeel said, still grinning down at the petrified children.

…

Harry could only look up at the man in shock. This was Professor Redfox's husband? The man had to be over 6 feet in height, with broad shoulders and rippled muscles that Harry just knew instinctively weren't for show. The man had blood-red eyes set on a sharp and heavily pierced face that was topped with jet black hair that ran all the way down his back. If Harry had to paint a picture of a Deatheater or any sort of villain, this man would have been his model. Harry cringed inwardly when the man smiled, revealing 2 rows of very white and inhumanly sharp teeth.

"I-it nice t-to meet you….Mr. Redfox," Harry gulped in reply, shakingly bringing his hand up to shake. Harry feared for his hand when the much larger man took it, and with a firm grip shook.

"So you're Harry," Gajeel said, and before Harry's eyes, he watched the man's face soften, "my wife told me all about you, thanks for keeping her company. Lev's pretty shy so the fact that one of her students has gone out of his way to talk to her really takes a lot of worry off me."

Harry nodded as he stared dumbfoundedly, maybe the man wasn't as scary as he looked?

"Professor Redfox!" a voice called out, drawing their attention away to see Professor Umbridge standing there in all her pick glory, "who exactly is this man you're carting around?"

Harry glared at the woman and was startled when he heard the growl that rumbled out of Mr. Redfox. Umbridge must have heard it too, for she took a step back in fright.

"Professor," Professor Redofx said calmly, a small smile etched on her face as she patted her husband's arm, "I'd like you to meet my Husband, Gajeel. He's here visiting for Halloween."

Umbridge examined the man in shock, "...he's your husband?" she asked as if she hadn't heard correctly.

Harry couldn't really blame her, he never would have guessed Professor Redfox marrying a man like him either.

"Gajeel, this is Professor Umbridge, one of my colleagues," Professor Redfox explained to her husband. The man only nodded, still staring at Umbridge unnervingly.

"Ah," Umbridge muttered, "well, carry on." she then turned and walked quickly away, as if running. Harry never found out what Professor Redfox had done to Umbridge after his detection, but the next day in class, Umbridge wouldn't even make eye contact with him.

Mr. Redfox watched heavily as Umbridge scurried away, "...is she causing you any problems Shrimp?"

Hermione looked over at Harry, mouthing "Shrimp" in confusion.

Professor Redfox smacked her husband on the arm, "Gajeel don't call me that in front of the children," she growled (though it had nothing on the growl her husband had done before), "and no, she's not bothering me. Not anymore."

Mr. Redfox grinned before a strange laugher spilled out of his mouth, "Gihi! That's my woman for ya!" Professor Redfox blushed but didn't seem upset with the comment.

"We'll see you at dinner tonight children," Professor Redfox said as she and her husband walked away. As they walked away, Harry finally noticed the LIly was settled on Mr. Redfox's shoulder, blending almost perfectly with the man's dark locks.

Once the pair was further down the hall, Ron wheezes a sigh of relief. "Bloody Hell!" he exclaimed, "I thought I was going to pee myself! Have either one of you even seem a more intimidating man in your lives?!"

"To think that that would be Professor Redfox's type," Hermione mumbled, "I'll admit it; I didn't see that coming."

"You know, the Professor actually told me about her husband before," Harry recounted, " and she had said something along the lines of him looking a little intimidating but Blimey! That didn't do it justice!"

"But you know though," Ron said, "even though the man's scary as Hell, I didn't get the feeling that he was evil or anything."

Hermione nodded, "your right, he might be one of the most terrifying men I have ever met but he's not evil. You can tell just how much he cares for his wife and how much she cares or him… it's honestly quite charming now that I think about it!"

"Oh spare us the girl talk!" Ron moaned, "I don't need to hear another 'ship' lecture. I get enough from my sister!"

Hermione glared at Ron before taking hold of his arm to drag him off, Harry followed close behind, giving one last look down the hall before following.

…

Gajeel, Levy, and Lily "explored" the castle for many more hours, revisiting many of their favorite places, spooking students as they went. Gajeel was having loads of fun watching the students scurry away in fright as he walked by - The people of Magnolia stopped doing that a long time ago and in a strange way Gajeel missed it.

"Oh," Levy muttered softly, "um, I need to use the bathroom. Gajeel, Lily, wait here. I'll be right back." Levy then hurried into the bathroom, leaving the two males alone.

Since they were out and about in the school, Lily couldn't talk or anything, but that was ok with Gajeel: He could just enjoy the quality time with his cat.

"Excuse me," a haughty voice called out from behind him, breaking the quality time.

Gajeel turned and caught sight of a blond-haired boy with two goon looking kids right next to him. The boy in question had a look that screamed 'superiority' which made Gajeel want to break his face a little.

"You talking to me kid?" Gajeel said, allowing his face to melt into disinterest.

"Yes, I'm talking to you," the boy rudely replied, "word has it that Professor Redfox has been carting around a man of terrifying looks but I have to say, even I didn't think you could be this ugly!"

Gajeel just raised a brow, "you haven't been looking in a mirror lately then." the other students in the hallway started to snicker, only to stop dead when the boy threw a glare around.

"Big words coming from a man who clearly doesn't know who my father is," the boy sniffed, "fitting to see that an ignorant woman like Professor Redfox would have an ignorant husband. Stupid people flock together I guess."

Gajeel's brows furrowed in anger, as suddenly the room became very dark. In a flash, Gajeel grabbed the annoying boy by his shirt and raised him to eye level, "what did you say about my wife punk?" Gajeel growled deeply, causing the boy to squeal in fright as he tried to pull himself away.

"Gajeel, don't kill him," A calm voice called out, as suddenly the room had light again. There was Levy standing at the bathroom entrance, "he's not worth me trying to clear blood out of your clothes...again."

The already pale boy whitened further at the "again", whimpering as tears welled in his eyes. Gajeel grumbled but put the shaking boy down, who turned to glare sharply at Gajeel.

"Wait till my father hears about this! You'll regret messing with me!" the boy barked.

"And you'll regret messing with my husband Mr. Malfoy," Levy intervened, "50 points from Slytherin."

The blond boy gasped, "50!?"

"You disrespected a teacher," Levy said calmly, "now get lost before I give you a week's worth of detention."

Malfoy huffed and ran, his goons following close behind. Levy sighed, rubbing her head.

"Damn brat," Gajeel growled, "kind of want to skin him alive or something."

"Now don't go starting on that," Levy chided, "Let's just enjoy our afternoon, We haven't had a full day together in forever."

Before they knew it, it was time for the feast. Gajeel found himself sitting at a long table, next to Levy, facing the whole student body. With his hearing, he could pick up the multiple conversations about him among the students. Everyone (who didn't already know) were curious about who he was and why he was there. Students that did know gossiped on how different he and Levy were, some students still in shock that he was in fact Professor Redfox's husband. Everyone hushed though, when Dumbledore stood up from his seat.

"A Merry Halloween my dear children," the older man began, "tonight is the night we celebrate our magical history, powers, and our uniqueness that sets us apart from the rest of the world. As many of you might have noticed, we have a special guest in our mists." Dumbledore then queued Gajeel to stand up.

"This is Gajeel Redfox, he is the husband of our Professor Redfox and is here to celebrate the holiday with his wife and with all of us. I hope you can all show your courtesy to him during his stay and give him warm Hogwarts welcome!"

The students then clapped aloud, the sound vibrating off the walls of the room.

"Mr. Redfox here is quite the interesting fellow! He currently works in the Ukraine as a Dragon Researcher, studying the famous Ukrainain Iron Belly Dragons! He is a graduate at the Durmstrang Institute so this is his first time at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore explained. This sent a new flurry of gossip about the students.

Dumbledore qued Gajeel again, who sat back down. "With that, please enjoy the feast!"

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	8. Chapter 8

As the fall faded away and the cold of winter started to blow in, Harry found himself drowning. The Daily Prophet upped their game, slandering Harry and Dumbledore's names on almost every page of every issue, causing many of his lingering friends to pull even further away. The gossip that had filled the student body quickly became murmurs; slighting against him as insults were thrown at him from the whispering children. Umbridge seemed to use this new fodder, taking any chance she could to degrade Harry whether it is in class or not. Unsurprisingly, most of Slytherin was on good terms with the witch.

Students avoided him like the plague and soon, only a handful of friends remained: Ron and Hermoine, of course, Harry had never been so grateful for his two best friends. Ginny, Fred, and George, Ron's siblings, who always stuck up for him. Nevile who had become quite the steadfast companion, and finally - and most surprising - a girl named Luna Lovegood.

Harry hadn't really interacted with the...odd, Ravenclaw prior to this year, though finding someone who could also see the Thestrals that pulled the carriages was comforting - kind of, given Luna's interesting personality. Though she was strange and confusing, she was one of the very few who believed him, and that meant more to Harry then he ever thought possible.

"Luna, have you lost something again?" Harry asked one afternoon after class, as he stumbled across the thin girl hiding behind a suit of armor down a corridor.

"Oh! Hello Harry!" Luna exclaimed, a dreamy smile spreading across her pale face, "no, I haven't lost anything today - the fairies must be tired."

"Then what are you doing?" Harry asked in confusion, though still crouching down next to the girl.

"I'm following Mr. Lily!" Luna whispered into Harry's ear, "I hope to catch him talking again!"

Luna claimed that one evening as she made her way back to the Ravenclaw dorms, she found Lily - Professor Redfox's cat - talking to himself. Most of the others had written it off as one of Luna's daydreams and in a way, Harry had too - if it wasn't for the fact that he knew people who could change into animals. Though, none of the individuals that he knew who were Animagus could talk in their beast forms.

"Are you sure you just didn't hear another student or teacher that day?" Harry tried to reason as he peeked out at the cat in question walking down the hall. Strange, why wasn't Lily with Professor Redfox?

"There was no one else around," Luna explained, "the voice was too deep for a student and didn't sound like any professor here - it had to be Mr. Lily!" After the incident, Luna had taken to calling Professor Redfox's cat 'Mr. Lily' as a sign of respect - "since he's clearly a man" she would say. Harry thought it cute that every time she saw Lily she was addressing him so formally, though the cat did seem to like the treatment.

"Come on Harry! He just turned down that hallway!" Luna said as she pulled him up and down the hall turning to find Lily waiting for them.

"Hello Mr. Lily," Luna greeted as if she was talking to a human, "It's quite the wonderful weather we're having today, isn't it?"

Harry glanced outside to see the heavy rain pound against the window, not exactly his idea of 'wonderful weather'.

"Meow," Lily replied, his deep voice echoing in the hall.

"Yes, we're sorry about trailing you," Luna replied as if she understood him, "but Mr. Lily, you don't have to pretend - Harry and I both know you can talk! We'll keep it a secret if you want!"

Harry could have sworn that Lily seemed to give a stressed smile in return, as Lily glanced between himself and Luna. But before Harry could say anything, a loud crack boomed as it shook the building, almost covering the sound of…. A scream? Before the thought even registered, Lily was tearing down the hall at lightning speed, ears flat to his skull.

"Did…" Harry began blinking, "did he just scream?"

Luna nodded sagely, "poor Mr. Lily, and just when we were going to have a conversation too!"

…

The cat in question was running like his life depended on it: Weaving between students and furniture, jumping through ghosts, and bouncing off paintings. Any way to get him somewhere safer, faster. Just as he raced around a corner, he was suddenly caught by a shadow.

"Take it easy Cat!" Gajeel shushed, holding Lily tightly to him, "I'll take you to Levy alright? Don't need to be that scared of a little old lightning - it's embarrassing!"

"But, but!" Lily whimpered, clawing the steel shadow dragon slayer as he pressed his head into Gajeel's chest to block the noise.

Gajeel grumbled but held his cat closer, zooming through the shadows to Levy's classroom who looked to be leaving the room.

"Oh good you found him," Levy said in relief as she watched Gajeel emerge from the shadows, holding poor Lily, "I was just heading out to find him! Oh, Lily, come here!" Levy then took Lily from Gajeel's arms to cuddle the scared cat into her chest.

"We have a bigger problem than lightning," Gajeel grumbled as he leaned against the side of the door before glaring at his cat, "Lil' you wanna explain why that Lovegood chick thinks you can talk?"

Lily froze mid cuddle, "...I don't know what you're talking about. Probably just the girl's imagination."

Gajeel scoffed, "Look, I know the girl is loony as a toon but she ain't that crazy to imagine a talking cat from an actual talking cat. Did she see you talk or anything?"

"Now Gajeel, even though Miss Lovegood is… out there, she's not dumb. In fact, I honestly think she's more in the 'know' than most other wizards around here," Levy admitted before turning her attention to Lily, "that being said, I would have to agree with Gajeel; Lily did she see you?"

"I don't know maybe?" Lily admitted, "I was just humming to myself in an empty hallway - it was creepy! - when she came out of nowhere! She couldn't have possibly heard me from as far away as she was! Honest!"

"That doesn't change the fact that she thinks she heard you," Gajeel grumbled in annoyance, "we're just lucky that most of the school thinks she nuts - nobody believed her when she went spreading it around."

Levy seemed to frown at this, "the girl doesn't seem to have many friends, it's good that she seems to be getting along with Harry though - I was getting worried after I learned people stole her things on a regular basis."

"Yeah, yeah I know, that's why I've been putting them back remember?" Gajeel said, "The girl doesn't even notice that her things went missing before I put them back."

Levy nodded, smiling, "yes, thank you Gajeel. You really are sweet."

"O-oi!" Gajeel barked, blushing.

…

Later that evening, with a few hours before students had to go to bed, Harry made his way over to Professor Redfox's room to study. As winter approached, Harry felt the dread of his OWLS come spring. The topic of today was potions - a subject that Harry had always struggled with. As he came down the hallway, he caught sight of Malfoy standing at Professor Redfox's closed down, his ear pressed against the wood.

"What on earth are you doing Malfoy?" Harry growled, starling the other lad.

"Potter," Malfoy grumbled back as he jumped away from the door, "here to get some help from the Child Teacher? Fitting that a freak like you would want to spend time with your own kind."

"Watch it Malfoy or do you want to make Slytherin lose another 50 points?" Harry chided as he smirked at the paling boy.

Malfoy growled at Harry before pushing his way past him and door the hall. "What a creep," Harry muttered, "what was he even doing anyway?"

Harry knocked on the door and entered after hearing a "come in". "Good Evening Professor," Harry greeted as he came in.

"Hello Harry," Professor Redfox replied as she sat behind her desk, looking to be grading papers of sorts, "how are you? Have you eaten?"

Harry nodded, for he had promised Professor Redfox that he would start eating dinner before sitting down at a desk near the front. "Professor, Malfoy was standing outside your door just a moment ago. Were you expecting him or something?"

The Professor furrowed her brow in confusion, "that's odd, I wasn't expecting him at all. I don't think he's a fan of me after Halloween so I doubt he would come asking for help on homework. I wonder why he was there?"

Harry furrowed his own brows in concern before shrugging, "probably just being a creep. Anyways, Professor, if you have a moment could you help me with this problem in potions? I can't seem to wrap my head around it."

Harry spent the better part of an hour learning everything he could from the Professor, though the image of Malfoy standing outside the door wouldn't leave his mind. It left a bad taste in his mouth then he just couldn't get rid of it. Malfoy was up to something but Harry had no idea what.

…

It was the end of November when Harry had his first dream: Harry was in a heated battle with Voldemort, spells were clashing as the pair whirled and spun in the gray haze. Harry was getting sorely beaten, out performed at every turn and twist. Harry had never felt more helpless as he struggled against the dark lord, barely holding on as Voldemort bombarded him with spell after spell. Just as Voldemort was about to finish him off, the snake lord grinned and whispered: "you are not prepared, Harry!"

Needless to say, the dream shook him. In the nightmare, Harry had been worthless in the fight, being beaten like the little boy Voldemort always made him feel. It frightened Harry that, if for some reason Voldemort were to ever attack, Harry wouldn't be able to stop him.

"She's teaching us nothing!" Hermoine growled later the day after DADA class with Umbridge, "theory isn't going to save us in a fight!"

Harry, who had been in a daze most of the day, was startled by Hermoine proclamation. "You're right," Harry said in enlightenment, "she hasn't been preparing us at all! We would be worthless in a fight!" Harry then picked up his pace, confusing his friends.

"Harry? Where are you going?" Hermoine called out as she and Ron gave chase.

"We can't wait around like sitting ducks for the dark forces to attack," Harry exclaimed, "we need to know how to fight and defend ourselves and if Umbridge won't teach us, we'll just need to find someone who can!"

Hermoine and Ron were puzzled but still followed their friend all the way to Professor Redfox's classroom.

"Harry you're not thinking of asking Professor Redfox are you?" Ron wheezed as he tried to catch his breath, "I mean, no offense, but the lady teaches Magical Theory!"

"You're forgetting that Professor Redfox shut Umbridge up after the incident with Harry," Hermoine said with a tsked, "we can't assume anything with her really; she's been full of surprises."

"Even if Professor Redfox can't teach us she could still point us in the right direction," Harry said as he knocked on the door, "all while keeping this a secret."

"Come in," a voice called.

Harry opened the door as he, Hermoine, and Ron walked in. Professor Redfox was standing at the back of the room by a chalkboard, probably preparing for her next lesson.

"Hello children," Professor Redfox said with a soft smile, "didn't have enough Magical Theory this morning?"

"Not exactly Professor," Harry admitted as he walked over to her, with Hermoine and Ron close behind, "we need your help with a different….subject."

"Oh?" Professor Redfox asked, her head tilting in question.

"We need help in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron chimed in.

Professor Redfox furrowed her brows, "I wasn't aware that Professor Umbridge was giving out any real homework."

"That's the problem Ma'am," Harry explained, "she hasn't been teaching us anything. All we do in class is read from the textbook."

"A textbook that's been filtered and dumbdown to a degrading state," Hermoine huffed in annoyance, "it was clearly picked by the Ministry themselves."

"I don't really understand what you children are asking of me," Professor Redfox admitted, "it sounds like you want me to teach the course."

"In a way, yes. But really, Professor, we want you to teach us to fight," Harry clarified, surprising the professor.

"To fight?" Professor Redfox exclaimed, shock painted on her face, "but fight whom?"

"Voldemort."

…

It was later in the evening when Harry, Ron, and Hermoine made their way back to Professor Redfox's classroom. Professor Redfox had sent them out soon after Harry's proclamation, promising to have an answer by this evening. Harry felt his stomach twist in knots as the trio hurried down the hall. He couldn't help but feel fear of the fact that Professor Redfox would turn them away.

"What do you guys think she's gonna say?" Ron asked as they rounded the corner.

"Who says what?" A voice called out, starling the three. There, standing by Professor Redfox's door was Ginny, Fred, George, Neville, and Luna.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ron asked in confusion, Harry and Hermoine were equally as surprised.

"Professor Redfox asked us to come see her after dinner," Fred explained.

"And you know us, can't turn down a pretty woman if ya know what I mean," grinned George.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Professor Redfox dressed in an outfit that Harry had never seen her in before. It was a strange outfit for a witch: She was wearing a green shirt that had cut away shelves, a white skirt that was shorter than even the student skirts, and a pair of worn combat boots. In that outfit, she looked young enough to be a student.

"Good, you're all here," Professor Redfox said with a grin, "now, come along children, we're going on a field trip." Professor Redfox then walked briskly past them, hurrying down the opposite hall.

The befuddled students followed after her, hurrying to keep pace with the surprisingly fast petite teacher. The group found themselves down an empty hallway, one that was never used.

"Professor where are we going?" Hermoine said, puffing, "there's nothing down this way."

"That my dear," Professor Redfox said as she stopped in front of a plain wall, "is where you're wrong. Hogwarts is a school of many mysteries, and you 8 are about to be lucky enough to see one of them." Professor Redfox then waved her wand while muttering, revealing a door hidden in the wall.

With a push, Professor Redfox opened the door to reveal a large bare room save for a fireplace in the back and a mirror off to the side. The students walked in awe at the sight, amazed at the hidden chamber.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirements," Professor Redfox explained, "a magical room that only appears when someone is in need of it - and I would say that we are certainly in need." Professor Redfox then walked to the front of the room, before the students, "Harry, I hope you don't mind that I called a few of your friends to join us. Based on our conversation this afternoon, you were going to need more than just Ron and Hermoine."

"Need more for what?" Ginny asked shyly.

"For battle," Professor Redfox declared, causing a nervous shift to fill the room but she promptly ignored it. "Those of you who I gathered here I know believe that the Dark Lord is back and to be blunt, your current DADA professor is failing at her job - So I'm going to fix that."

"You're going to teach us how to fight?" Ron gasped in amazement.

"No, Ronald," Professor Redfox clarified, "I'm going to teach you how to win."

Professor Redfox then moved to one side of the room, pointing for Harry to go over to the other side. "Lesson number one: Everything you've learned so far about combat - throw it away. All the rules you've learned about dueling are completely useless in a real fight. Your enemy isn't going to wait for you to pick up your wand after you got it blasted from your hand, no, your enemy will take the opportunity to kill you." Professor Redfox then placed her own wand on the ground, which was picked up by Lily - who Harry hadn't even noticed was there.

"All the wizards I know have no idea what to do after losing their wands," the Professor continued, "most will assume that the fight is over, on the contrary, the fight isn't over until one person is incompasitated - which being wandless is certainly not. I'm going to demonstrate what you should be doing after you lose your wand, Harry, I want you to give me everything you've got."

Harry nodded, though still unsure of himself, "Expelliarmus!" Harry shot out his spell but watched in amazement as Professor Redfox dodged with ease and charged him. Starled, Harry's mind went blank for a moment, but a moment was all Professor Redfox needed. The next thing Harry knew, he was being flipped over the professor's small frame onto the ground.

"Oof!" Harry wheezed as the air from his lungs was forcefully expelled. Professor Redfox stood over him smiling as she reached a hand down to help him up. As Harry stood, he glanced over to his friends who all stood with gaping mouths of shock mixed with slight horror.

"The problem with magical folk is their lack of physical confrontation," Professor explained, "put a wizard in a fist fight and he's useless. That, my children, is your advantage, an enemy isn't going to expect you charging them after making you lose your wand. For the next 2 hours until it's lights out we are going to practice how to handle ourselves wandless and also how to react if someone does decide to charge you. First off I want to see Ron vs Hermoine; Ron, you'll be wandless."

After an hour and a half of dodging spells and tackling people, the 8 students were exhausted. They were all resting on the ground as Professor Redfox was commenting on every match.

"Professor," Luna asked, "how did you learn to fight?"

This caught the attention of the other students.

Professor Redfox smiled at the girl, "my husband taught me actually, before we were married." Professor Redfox then sat down, as the 8 formed a circle around her. "Before I met my husband, I was your average wizard - relying solely on my magic in any fight or dual. I had become…. Overly confident in my skill until I met Gajeel. Gajeel and I had actually met on...bad terms if you'd will. He challenged me to a fight and I lost after only a few minutes."

"But you're an amazing witch!" Harry exclaimed in confusion, "how was that even possible?"

"Remember what I said about most wizards being useless in a fist fight? Well, Gajeel had successfully dodged my attack and had me tackled to the ground before I could even comprehend what was happening." Professor Redfox explained.

"He tackled you and you married him?" Neville wheezed in horror.

"Is that how you get a girl?" Fred asking jokingly, "cuz there's this one Hufflepuff who is-"

"Anyway," Professor Redfox cut Fred off, "the point is that you can never expect people to play by the rules in a fight. Gajeel ended up helping me train which, of course, led to where we are now. Now, its almost lights out so everyone let's head out!"

…

For the following weeks, after dinner every night Harry and his friends would meet with Professor Redfox in the Room of Requirements; learning combat skills and spells alike. Before Harry even knew it, it was Christmas and he had made plans to visit his Godfather, Sirius Black.

"Professor are you planning on going to the Ukraine for Christmas?" Harry asked while studying in her classroom during the lunch break.

Professor Redfox shook her head, "no, in fact, Gajeel will be coming here. The Headmaster has already approved it, Gajeel's actually coming today!"

"Today?" Harry asked in confusion, there was still a few days before students were sent home for the holidays so it was surprising that Mr. Redfox was coming so soon.

"Yes," Professor Redfox nodded, "Gajeel was called to London for work in a week so he's going to head right here afterwards!"

"Does that mean there's no training tonight?" Harry asked in a whisper. After the night where Harry caught Malfoy spying on Professor Redfox, he found him and many other Slyrethen students doing the same. It would seem that Umbridge has started employing students to spy on other students and staff - to find anything "inappropriate".

Professor shook her head again, "no, knowing my husband, I believe Gajeel would want to take part in the lesson - any excuse for violence for that man really."

"Er, violence Ma'am?" Harry asked nervously.

Professor Redfox laughed, "not violence against you children, just that the man really does love training - once he finds out most of you don't know how to throw a punch, he'll be just giddy to teach."

A sinking feeling filled Harry, he wasn't too sure if he'd survive Mr. Redfox's "teaching".

_Comment/review, fave and follow!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Hey everyone! I've been back to work now for over 3 weeks but I know that not everyone has been able to go back to work just yet. With everything going on in the world right now, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Gonna have to be a short chapter, I'm sorry!_

The Forbidden Forest looked much different in cold December then it did in the summer, Gajeel thought, as he and Lilly were walking towards their training ground. At the beginning of the year, Dumbledore had found a spot in the forest for the boys to train; it was a short 30-minute walk from the school - as a regular person's pace. With the help of Lilly or Gajeel's shadow form, the 30-minute walk became only a few minutes. Dumbledore had stressed in the summer to the boys to not wander too far in the forest, partially in fear of them attacking some poor creature and partially in fear of themselves being attacked.

"The Centaurs do not care for adults," Dumbledore stressed, "they will attack you on sight so please don't wander into their territory - and no extermination please!."

Levy had explained to both boys what a centaur was, piquing Gajeel's interest in the strange half man half horse people. They reminded him slightly of Bunny Girl's spirit, Taurus, though Gajeel did hope that none of the centaurs acted like the overgrown cow.

"Ya think we're gonna see a centaur today?" Gajeel asked Lily as they arrived at the training ground. Up until this point, Gajeel felt like he's seen everything else in the forest: Giant spiders, unicorns, creepy horse things, and much more but he had yet to see a centaur.

"Dumbledore seemed to really not want us to meet them," Lilly stressed, "so it's probably best that we haven't seen one yet."

"I know, I know, but wouldn't you want to see one at least once? I mean, they're horse people for crying out loud!" Gajeel complained, "it's not like we have centaurs on Earthland - this would be our only chance to see one!"

"Gajeel, we promised Dumbledore that we wouldn't go looking for them," Lily deadpanned, "now shut up and try to hit me."

The boys sparred until the sun was starting to set, indicating that it was time to head back and do the afternoon patrol. Just as the pair turned to leave, however, a large figure burst out of the dense woods, followed by 2 more.

"Holy shit-" Gajeel yipped, his senses suddenly overwhelmed with the smell of horse. There before them were 3 HUGE centaurs. The largest stood a proud nine feet in height and was glaring hard at Gajeel.

"Human," the large male(?) growled, "get out of our forest!"

This, naturally, ticked Gajeel off; no one told him what to do but Levy or Master! (And Erza or Mira if the man was honest - those two scared the shit out of him!). Gajeel returned the glare with equal force, "Ain't your forest Horse Freak! Don't see your name on it!"

The two centaurs behind the larger one growled as well, drawing spears from behind them to point at the dragon slayer. "Last chance Human," the larger one said, stepping forward to intimidate Gajeel, "leave or suffer the consequences!"

"Gajeel…" Lily warned but it was too late; Gajeel was already moving to challenge the Centaur.

"Try me Ugly," Gajeel chuckled darkly, cracking his knuckles before taking a stance, "just don't complain when I'm done wiping the floor with you ponies!"

The larger one roared before charging, drawing a large spear to strike Gajeel but Gajeel was too quick: Gajeel dodged the spear and dove for the front legs, causing the large male to buckle and fall forward. The centaur screeched in surprise before being promptly quieted by Gajeel's fist to his temple, resulting in the centaur crashing down. The other two buckled nervously, immediately disturbed by how quickly their leader fell.

Gajeel turned his gaze onto the other two, "you want a piece of this?" he roared, resulting in the pair turning tail and running.

Lily hovered above, face-palming himself at the scene before him, "great, thanks Gajeel now we have a knocked-out centaur to deal with!"

"That was terribly disappointing," Gajeel grumbled, ignoring Lily as he lightly kicked the centaur, "with how much Dumbledore was freaking out about them, I'd thought they'd be more of a challenge."

"Gajeel nothing is a challenge in this world," Lily chided, "not for us at least! Come on, let's move the fellow over by the trees and make sure his head is out of the snow - can't have him suffocating on us."

And so the pair moved the very heavy centaur off the wooden floor onto a nice soft patch of cleared grass, out of the snow so that the centaur didn't suffocate. They then decided to leave, in case the pair that ran off would bring reinforcements.

"Is anything a challenge in this world?" Gajeel complained as they walked back.

"Maybe the dragons here could give you a challenge," Lilly replied sarcastically.

"Nah," Gajeel grumbled, "found a book on them in the library and it sounds like they're just a group of overgrown lizards - no fun at all!"

Unbeknown to Gajeel, that day forward he was known as the King of the Forbidden Forest to all the magical creatures - the top of the food chain. No one dared venture near the training grounds after that day, much to Gajeel's disappointment.

…

As Gajeel was beating on horse men, Harry had found himself in the library with Ron and Hermoine, talking about their favorite teacher's husband.

"I wonder if he knows Charlie?" Rom mused as he doodled on his transformation homework, "Charlie knows almost everyone in the dragon world, even if Mr Redfox is in the Ukraine and not Romania."

"Ron don't doodle on your homework," Hermoine chastised, "and now that you mention it, I wasn't aware there was a dragon research facility in the Ukraine - I thought most of the research happened in Romania."

"That's what I thought too," Ron said, "but there must be a smaller site in the Ukraine for studying the Ironbelly. Charlie must have just never mentioned it."

"Well we can ask Mr Redfox tonight," Harry chimed in, "maybe he does know your brother."

"The magical world is fairly small," Hermione hummed in agreement, "and it's not like the Dragon Researching community is a prominent field or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if they did know each other."

"I wonder if Mr Redfox would be willing to talk about his work," Ron said in excitement, "Charlie doesn't talk much about what he does in his letters - it would be bloody brilliant if we could get a lecture from a real dragon trainer!"

"Ronald, language!" Hermione barked, "and that's not what Mr Redfox is going to be teaching us anyways - we don't want to cut too much into our...training."

"I know, I know but I would still be wicked!" Ron cried with glee.

Harry chuckled, for he had to agree with Ron on that one - learning about one of the more dangerous dragon species from a real expert will be pretty incredible. But he understood what Hermoine meant; they had less than a week until students were to head home for the holidays and Mr Redfox would only be able to teach them for a short while - they shouldn't waste the time.

"Professor Redfox said her husband was coming tonight so we'll be able to see if we have time," Harry said, compromising, "we should probably get going anyways - dinner is almost ready."

…

Dinner tonight, though not a feast, was a lot like Halloween; with Mr Redfox sitting next to Professor Redfox with her cat Lilly and students all gossiping about the man. From his seat, Harry saw Malfoy glaring at the man darkly, making him chuckle.

"Professor Redfox really does bring her cat with her everywhere, doesn't she?" Ginny mused while sitting next to Harry, "I don't think I've ever seen her without Lilly."

Fred and George crackled, "well if you believe Lovely Luna, the Professor's cat can apparently talk," Fred teased.

"Yes and talking cats are quite rare these days," George continued, "wouldn't want a nasty Slythren to steal him or something!" The pair laughed, causing the other students around them to join in.

"Quiet you two!" Hermione said glaring, "don't make fun of Luna!"

"Oh come on, Hermoine," Fred jeered, "it's all in good fun! Besides, there's no way it could be real! Who's ever heard of a talking cat?"

"Why Hermoine," George started leaning close to the younger girl, "don't tell me that you believe her do you?"

"I'm not saying anything!" Hermoine huffed hotly, "all I'm saying is that Luna is our friend and she doesn't deserve her friends making fun of her!"

Fred and George made a face and were about to speak when a small black shape landed on their table.

"What the-" Ron squeaked, pulling his plate away just in time for Lilly to miss the plate in his landing.

Lilly landed with a purr, glancing around to everyone at the table before stretching and making his way over to Fred and George who were watching the cat with pale faces and wide eyes. Lilly stopped right in front of the boys, making eye contact for a moment before swiping Fred's bowl of fruit salad. Lily carried the bowl away, head held high, as he made his way back to Professor Redfox and Mr. Redfox.

"Bloody…" George started.

"...Hell," Fred finished with a murmur, as both boys watched in awe as the cat left before looking at each other.

"I believe that might be why Luna thinks the way she does," Harry chimed in with both amusement and amazement.

The rest of Dinner was uneventful, save from Fred and George whispering back and forth as they watched Professor Redfox's cat from the Gryffindor table. As dinner ended, the twins ran out of the hall, grins of mischief plastered on they're faces.

"That's not a good sign," Ron grumbled as he walked with Harry, "I hate it when they grin like that."

"Think they're going to try and trick Lily or something?" Harry mused as they walked, Hermoine taking the moment to catch up with them.

"Are you guys ready for tonight?" Hermoine asked quietly.

Harry nodded, "ready as I'll ever be I guess, I have a feeling that Mr. Redfox won't let us off easy."

_Hope you enjoyed, sorry about how short this is!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey everyone! So sorry about this being late! So much stuff has happened over the past 2 months that finding time to sit down and write has been impossible. Please know that I will finish this story, although it might take me time. _

It was a little over an hour past dinner now, as Harry and his friends secretly made their way to the Room of Requirements. Dodging other students and teachers had become part of their training, as Professor Redfox has put it:

"Sometimes, being able to remain hidden is worth much more in a conflict then battle skills," the Professor had explained to them during one night, "knowing how to hide can be the difference between life or death."

As cowardly as it sounded - fighting against the natural courage that most Gryffindors had - it made a lot of sense to Harry. Harry knew from last year's experience that there were wizards out there that Harry wouldn't be able to defeat in his current state. And when battling against dark wizards, death was not just a possibility.

Turning around the corner, the students found themselves at the entrance of the Room of Requirements. As they approached, the door started to form out of the wall and had fully manifested by the time Harry reached for the doorknob. As he turned the knob, the door gave way to revival a set up that Harry had not seen before:

The once flat room now had a large hole, filled with boxes and walls - all about 8 feet in height - connecting the slipping to create what looked to be a maze. The maze itself was fully visible from where the students now stood, as they gazed upon it in awe.

"Good, you're here!" a cheerful voice called out from the left. Turning, Harry found Professor Redfox, Lily, and Mr. Refox. The Professor was smiling; however, her husband had a dark grin plastered to his face, sending a chill down Harry's back.

"What do you guys think?" Professor Redfox asked as she pointed out to the maze, "Gajeel came up with such a good idea for our training session that I almost couldn't believe that I didn't think of it first!"

"Oi!" Mr. Redfox growled playfully at his wife, "I happened to be full of good ideas!"

"Good ideas or something else, My Love?" Professor Redfox teased back, ducking to avoid a playful swipe from the larger man, laughing.

Lily jumped off Professor Redfox's shoulder as the shorter woman ducked, landing before he turned to meow - in quite the disapproving manner - at the teasing adults.

"Yes, yes, I know." Professor Redfox hummed at her cat before turning towards the students again. "Today, we are going to work on fighting in a limited space area and dealing with surprise attacks."

"Wicked!" the Twins cheered, high fiving each other, "we'll go first!"

Professor Redfox nodded, "Perfect; you two head down the ladder here and wait till I give the signal. Ron, Hermoine, you two will play the attackers. Head down to the other side of the rim and take the ladder there - you will have a five-minute head start on Fred and George."

She waited for Ron and Hermoine to reach the other side and start climbing down before explaining the rules further; "By the ladder on the far wall - where Ron and Hermoine are now - is a red flag. The goal for Fred and George is to travel through the maze safely, find the flag, and bring it back up the ladder to me. It's Ron and Hermoine's job to protect the flag while defeating Fred and George. Each game will last 15 minutes; after 15 minutes, the pair that performed the best will be the winners. Gajeel and I will be the judges, now start!"

For the next 2 hours, different pairs rotated between being the 'attackers' and the 'capturers,' until everyone had gotten a turn to be both. All the while Mr. Redfox observed, whispering here and there to his wife as the students trained. At the end of the 2 hours, all the students sat listening to Mr. Redfox critic them.

"Overall, not bad," Mr. Redfox grunted, "no one was slacking off, and you were aiming to hurt. I only saw one blaring problem with everyone's trails today," Mr. Redfox then jumped down into the maze, causing the boys to gasp in awe and the girls to yelp in surprise, the man had just dropped nearly 12 feet in height. "None of you were using the maze to your advantage," He continues from below, "when fighting in tight quarters, it's a person's natural reaction to panic. When done correctly, you can use this reaction to your advantage in a fight."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked as he looked down at the man.

Gajeel grinned darkly, "you'll see," he said ominously, "everyone in the maze! The past rounds were just warm-up; this will be your final test! All of you will work together to capture the flag from me, and the same rules apply as before!"

Mr. Redfox then flashed an even darker grin as he disappeared from direct view. Harry couldn't help the chill that ran down his spine as he slowly made his way down the ladder. If he was frank, Mr. Redfox was the last person he would want to meet in battle - especially in a tight maze like this. Standing at the foot of the ladder, the seven students spread out to not feel as cramped while they waited for the signal.

"Lev?" Mr. Redfox's gravelly voice called out, "kill the lights."

Harry's eyes widened in shock as the room grew remarkably dimmer, causing the maze to look even more imposing from the starting point. On his left, he could hear a small whimper, followed by a light smack.

"Honestly, Ronald," Hermoine grumbled, "it's not that dark."

"It is when you have the scariest looking guy on the other side of the maze about to come at you!" Ron whispered harshly.

"Begin!" Professor Redfox's voice cried out from above them, startling Harry a bit.

Nodding to Ron and Hermoine, Harry took to the left pass with them as Fred, George, Neville, and Luna took to the right. Harry cast a light charm as the trio processed forward, taking corners slow and keeping their ears open. With each step, Harry felt his heart beat faster and faster, his breath shorter as he started to pant. Making it halfway through the maze without even one encounter was nerve-racking.

"Bloody Hell, this is awful," Ron muttered quietly, breaking the silence that was deafening in Harry's ears.

Harry simply nodded, not trusting his voice not to carry throughout the rest of the maze.

"Why hasn't anything happened?" Hermoine asked softly, her hand clutching painfully onto Harry's shoulder, "shouldn't something have happened by now?"

"You three need to work on your stealth," a voice called out from above them, scaring the three Gryffindors shitless.

Hermoine screamed as Harry wiped above only to freeze in terror at the sight of a dark silhouette glaring down at them with glowing red eyes.

"Stupefy!" Ron squeaked as he shot out his wand, rocketing the spell at the man.

The dark figure dodged with ease before roaring as he jumped onto the students, causing the trio to scream and scatter. Harry flew back onto his back, dropping his wand and his light to his horror. In the dark, Harry lost sight of his friends and their attacker.

"Stup-!" Ron's voice gave out with a thump and a growl, causing Hermoine to cry out, but this too was cut with a thud. Harry whirled around in a panic, searching desperately for his wand only to feel a strong iron hand connect with his shoulder before the world went completely dark.

…

Harry wasn't sure if it had been 10 minutes or 10 hours as he felt his consciousness come back to him, finding himself propped against a wall in the now normal looking Room of Requirements. As he came too, he could start to hear the tail end of what sounded like Professor Redfox lecturing her husband.

"Gajeel! Did you have to scare them so badly!?" the short woman growled loudly at the larger man.

"...sorry," Mr. Redfox grumbled as he looked away from his wife, too timid to take the full force of her glare.

"Sorry?! That's all you have to say?! Look at poor Neville!" Professor Redfox barked while pointing behind her. Harry followed her hand to find a very pale Neville passed out on what looked to be a couch; Luna was standing next to him, patting his cheek to try to wake him up.

Harry looked around the room and saw only himself and Luna were awake; Ron and Hermoine sat propped against each other a little to the left from himself while Fred and George were out of the ground.

"Professor…" Harry muttered as he stood, his head no longer hurting but still unsteady, "what...what happened?"

"Oh, Harry! You're awake!" Professor Redfox said as she whirled around to look at him, "here, drink this!" She then shoved a bottle of what smelled like tea at him. "My husband thought it would be a great learning exercise to scare you poor children stiff," the petite teacher muttered, shooting a glare at her husband who flinched at its intensity.

"I didn't think they'd pass out!" Mr. Redfox said, defending himself, "I didn't even hit them with anything, I just growled!"

"I didn't pass out, Professor," Luna said as she took to sitting on the arm of the couch, "Mr. Redfox wasn't too scary, I promise."

"You have nerves of steel, Luna dear," Professor Redfox said with a smile at the platinum blond girl, "we really shouldn't use you as a standard for the others."

Harry hid his laugh at the comment with a sip of tea; Luna really should never be used as a standard for anything. Harry felt himself frown as he thought back at what Mr. Redfox had said prior.

"Mr. Redfox, did you not use anything - no spell or physical attack what so ever - in the maze?" Harry asked in confusion. The towering man only nodded. "But...how?" Harry questioned, "you were so silent and, and surely you must have used something when Ron shot Stupify at you…"

Mr. Redfox shook his head, "I didn't need to, your friend was too scared stiff to shoot correctly. As for the rest, they didn't fare much better than you three did - save Luna here."

"But how?" Harry pressed in confusion.

"I played on your fear and overworked senses," Mr. Redfox said with a shrug, "all of you felt the strain of walking without hearing or seeing your enemy. That fear built up over time, causing you to hyper analyze your surroundings to a point that allowed me to go unnoticed. I knew where all 7 of you were at all times - again, gotta work on your stealth - and so I simply waited for the right moment where your anxiety was at its highest and struck."

Harry barely had time to comprehend this when he heard Ron start to stir, which seemed to prompt Hermoine awake too.

"What happened?" Ron groaned, eyes struggling to open when he caught sight of Mr. Redfox gleamed down at him. "Ah! Don't hurt me!" Ron squealed loudly, starling Hermoine awake in the process.

"Ronald!" Hermoine growled, pulling her head away from him, "don't yell in my ear!"

Mr. Redfox started to laugh, a strange laugh but it was so deep that Harry felt the vibrations on the floor under his feet. The booming voice caused Fred, George, and Neville to finally wake up and soon, all the students were sitting around Professor Redfox and her husband as they discussed today's lesson.

Harry listened attentively as Mr. Redfox spoke, for the man clearly knew what he was talking about. Harry was then struck by the strangeness of this fact; why did Mr. Redfox know so much about stealth and manipulating his opponent (man's own words)? Harry couldn't really see how this translated over into Dragon Research. If anything, it sounded more like the man was an Auror or something.

"Mr. Redfox," Harry called as the lesson winded down, "could you tell us more about your profession Sir?"

"Oh yeah!" Ron cried out in excitement, "any chance you know our older brother Charlie? He works in Romania studying dragons too!"

A look of, what Harry really couldn't describe, flashed across Mr. Redfox's face but it was gone before Harry could really identify what it might be.

"Don't think so," Mr. Redfox said as he shook his head, "I don't go to the Romania branch often, if ever. What species does your brother study? Maybe I do know him."

Ron, Fred, and George all started to talk rapidly at the man about the older brother they hero worshiped slightly as Harry watched Mr. Redfox's face as they discussed. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of the man's own words, manipulating your opponent. Had Mr. Redfox on purpose diverged the conversation away from himself? He had formed the question in such a way that it practically demanded time devoted to the elder Weasley child - and away from himself.

"So there is a branch in the Ukraine?" Hermoine said, eyes gleaming with interest, "I thought most dragon study happened exclusively in Romania?"

"Branch is a...stretch," Mr. Redfox said slowly, "It's really just me and 3 other guys studying wild Ironbelly dragons in their natural habitat."

"So you've seen wild Ironbelly dragons before?" Neville asked in rapure.

Mr. Redfox nodded confidently, "'course I have! Would be a crap researcher if I hadn't!"

The conversation didn't last much longer than that, due to Professor Redfox reminding them that it was almost lights outs. As Harry and his friends made their way back, however, Harry couldn't get rid of the feeling that not everything was right with Mr. Redfox's story but he really couldn't put his finger on it.


End file.
